Professor Derek Johnston

Research Overview

My primary research interests are stress, including occupational stress, fatigue, psychological and behaviour aspects of cardiavascular diease, and understanding and increasing activity in various groups. The methods I use include ambulatory physiological measurement, real time diary studies (ecological momentary assessment) and n-of-1 methods. My research is illustrated by these selected papers. A fuller list can befound  under Publications.

Health Psychology

Johnston, DW, Beedie, A, & Jones, MC (2006) Using computerised ambulatory diaries for the assessment of job characteristics and work-related stress in nurses Work & Stress, 20, 163-172.

Allan , J., Johnston, D.W., Johnston, M., & Mant, D. (2007). Depression and perceived behavioural control are independent predictors of future activity and fitness after coronary. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 63, 501-508.

Powell R, Johnston M, Johnston DW. (2007). Assessing walking limitations in stroke survivors: Are self-reports and proxy-reports interchangeable? Rehabilitation Psychology, 52, 177-18

Johnston D.W., Tuomisto M.T., & Patching, G.R. (2008) The Relationship between Cardiac Reactivity in the Laboratory and in Real Life. Health Psychology. 27, 34-42

Molloy, G.J., Johnston, D.W., Johnston, M., Gao, C., Witham M. D., Struthers, A.D., , & McMurdo M.E.T. (2008) Using the Demand-Control Model of job strain to predict Caregiver Burden and Caregiver Satisfaction in the informal caregivers of heart failure patients. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 401-417.

Powell R, Johnston M & Johnston DW. (2008). The effects of negative affectivity on self-reported activity limitations in stroke patients: Testing the Symptom Perception, Disability and Psychosomatic Hypotheses. Psychology and Health, 23, 195-206

Powell, R., Allan J., Johnston, D.W., Gao, G., Johnston, M., Kenardy, J., Pollard, B., & Rowley, D. (2009) Activity and affect: Repeated within participant assessment of people after joint replacement surgery. Rehabilitation Psychology, 54, 83-90.

McMurdo, M.E.T, Sugden, J, Argo, I., Boyle P., Johnston, D.W., Sniehotta F.F., DonnanP.T (2010). Do pedometers increase physical activity in sedentary older women? A randomised controlled trial. Journal of the American Geriatric Society,58, 2099-2106.

Zanstra, Y. J., Johnston, D. W., Rasbash, J. (2010) Appraisal predicts hemodynamic reactivity in a naturalistic stressor. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 77, 35-42.

Zanstra, Y. J., Johnston, D. W. (2011) Cardiovascular reactivity in real life settings: measurement, mechanisms and meaning. Biological Psychology, 86, 98-105

Quinn, F., Johnston, M., Dixon, D., Johnston, D.W., Pollard, B.,  & Rowley, D.I. (2012) Testing the integration of model of ICF and behavioral models of disability in orthopedic patients:Replication and extension. Rehabilitation Psychology, 57, 167-177

Johnston, D.W., Jones M.C., McCann, C.K., McKee, L. (2013) Stress in nurses: stress-related affect and its determinants examined over the nursing day. Annals of Behavioural Medicine, 45, 348-356.

Johnston, D.W., & Johnston, M. (2013). Useful theories should apply to individuals. British Journal of Health Psychology, 18, 469-473.

Quinn, F., Johnston, M., Johnston, D.W. (2013) Testing an integrated behavioural and biomedical model of disability in N-of-1 studies with chronic pain. Psychology & Health, 28, 1391-1406.

Johnston, D.W.,  Bell, C., Jones, M.,  Farquharson, B., Allan, J., Schofield, P., Ricketts, I., Johnston, M, (2016). Stressors, appraisal of stressors, experienced stress and cardiac response: a real-time, real-life investigation of work stress in nurses. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 50, 187-187.

Johnston, D.W. (2016).   Ecological Momentary Assessment. In “Assessment in Health Psychology” Edited by Y. Benyamini, M. Johnston, & V. Karademas. Hogrefe Publishing GmbH. Pp 241-251

 Steele, F., Clarke, P., Leckie, G., Allan, J., &   Johnston, D.W. (2017).  Multilevel structural equation models for longitudinal data where predictors are measured more frequently than outcomes: an application to the effects of stress on the cognitive function of nurses. J. R. Statist. Soc. A , 180, Part 1, pp. 263–283.

Suzanne McDonald, S., Quinn, F., Vieira, R.,   O’Brien, N.,  White, M., Johnston, D.W.,  & Sniehotta, F.F.,  (2017): The state of the art and future opportunities forusing longitudinal n-of-1 methods in health behaviour research: a systematic literature overview,Health Psychology Review, DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2017.1316672

Johnston, D.W., Allan, J.L., Powell, D.J.H., Jones, M.C., Farquharson, B., Bell, C., & Johnston, M. (2018). Why does work cause fatigue? A real-time investigation of fatigue, and determinants of fatigue in nurses working 12-hour shifts.  Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Online   

Jones, M.C., Smith, K., Herber, O., White, W., Steele, F., & Johnston, D.W. (2018).  Intention, beliefs and mood assessed using electronic diaries predicts attendance at cardiac rehabilitation: An observational study.   International Journal of Nursing Studies, 88, 143-152