Occupational Therapy

Contacts

Sally Wojnar-Horton | Head of Department  
Sally.Wojnar-Horton@health.wa.gov.au 

Dr Suzi Taylor | Research Coordinator 
Susan.Taylor4@health.wa.gov.au

Occupational Therapists are committed to maximising a child’s potential for building and recovering skills that enable participation in everyday activities and occupations e.g. self-care, productivity (school, peer interaction), play, relationships and leisure, which can be disrupted as a result of disease, trauma, and medical interventions requiring admission to an acute paediatric hospital. Fifty percent of staff have research qualifications including Masters, PhD or 1st class honours. The department also supports a university honours program linked with Curtin University.

Main clinical areas:

  • Surgical (hands/upper limb, burns, orthopaedic)
  • Psychosocial (adolescent medicine, oncology)
  • Neuro/neurosurgery (acquired brain injury, spinal rehab)
  • Early start (infants and neonates, early intervention)

Aims of research program:

  • Clinical excellence

  • Child health outcomes

  • Evidenced-based care

  • Innovation

  • Research capacity building 

  • Opportunities to get involved

  • Collaborations and partnerships

  • Integrate local research findings in practice

  • Research impact 

  • Health impacts

  • Inform decision making

  • Advancing knowledge 

Research priority areas:

  • Therapeutic use of play 

  • Participation and engagement 

  • Trauma informed care

  • Cognition

  • Best practice clinical interventions

  • Best practice assessment and outcome measurement

  • Outcomes of equipment modification and use

Department collaborative research:

Publications

  • Promoting the Use of Quality Assessments in a Paediatric Occupational Therapy Department: A Quality Improvement Initiative (published)

  • In the Groove: An Evaluation to Explore a Joint Music Therapy and Occupational Therapy Intervention for Children with Acquired Brain Injury (published)

  • Identifying suitable cognitive assessments for children and adolescents with acquired brain injury for use by occupational therapists in acute and sub-acute hospital contexts: A scoping review (accepted for publication) 

  • A scoping review of trauma related symptoms and associated interventions: Implications for occupational therapy and hospital-based child protection services (under review)

  • The efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions in reducing paediatric procedure-related traumatic stress: A systematic review (in development)

Conference presentations

  • Tube Feed Weaning: Connecting to Disconnect

  • Research Capacity Building for Tertiary Occupational Therapy Departments

  • An Occupational Therapy investigation into the use of continuing professional development to inform practice

  • Barriers and Challenges of Evidence Based Practice in Allied Health

  • Allied Health Research Pathway: A Web-Based Research Capacity Building Tool

Honours collaborations

  • Characteristics of an autism friendly children’s hospital (completed)

  • The use of coaching by occupational therapists in acute tertiary settings (completed)

  • Identifying suitable cognitive assessments for children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (completed)

  • Play, Leisure and Engagement (PLAE) service: A process evaluation (underway)

Quality improvement activities

  • Parent Satisfaction with Multi-Disciplinary Appointments (Occupational Therapy & Speech Pathology)

  • An Occupational Therapy investigation into the use of compression garments for the treatment of burn scars at Perth Children’s Hospital

  • Development of Occupational Therapy patient resource for the use of Strataderm scar therapy gel

  • Trial of Saturday Occupational Therapy Service - Winter Bed Strategy

  • Evaluating, Selecting and Using Clinical Assessments in Tertiary Paediatric Occupational Therapy: An Organisational Approach to Implementation

  • To investigate the usefulness of an education tool for staff and consumers regarding how and why to access music therapy at PCH

HDR

  • Two PhDs completed, two underway, six masters completed, two underway

 

Last Updated: 23/06/2022