Purpose: This study aims to examine the anticipated and actual challenges encountered by occupational therapy and physiotherapy students during their first full-time professional placement and to understand the strategies they implemented to manage their multiple life roles. Design/methodology/approach: Longitudinal qualitative research examined…

Objective: This study aimed to compare the approval of medicines for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for pediatric patients across five countries. Method: A document analysis was completed, using the drug labeling for ADHD medicines from five countries; United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and United States (US).…

Background: Adults with intellectual disability are at higher risk of being administered psychotropic medications. The UK-developed SPECTROM (Short-term PsychoEducation for Carers To Reduce Over Medication of people with intellectual disabilities) training programme educates disability support workers on psychotropic medications and alternatives…

Autistic people are at elevated risk of mental health conditions and experience significant barriers to effective support. While adaptations to therapy for autistic people have been proposed by clinicians, there is limited research on how helpful autistic people themselves rate these. We aimed to address this gap. Participants were 130 autistic…

Occupational therapy education standards for teaching occupation are inconsistently applied and there is a lack of evidence to inform teaching practice in Australia. This qualitative study explored what teaching methods and approaches Australian occupational therapy educators used in their classroom, and why those methods were used. The research…

Many countries, including Australia, have established a national scheme that supports the recognition of a single ethical review for multi-centre research conducted in publicly funded health services. However, local site-specific governance review processes remain decentralised and highly variable. This short report describes the ethics and…

This bibliometric study analyzed characteristics of publications related to art therapy for children from 1990 to 2020, based on the datasets taken from Web of Science (WoS) core collections. The results indicate that the USA, Israel, Germany, UK, Australia, and Canada were six leading countries in this field of research interest. The Top 5 most…

University campuses are important places of cultural, intellectual, and economic capital, making significant contributions to their surrounding communities. As institutions seek to navigate changing expectations for university teaching, learning, research and impact, an exploration of the interface of individual experience and the campus…

There is a significant variability in the prevalence of psychotropic medication use among young autistic persons worldwide and this is under-studied in Australia. Apart from risperidone, approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to manage challenging behaviour, the appropriateness of other psychotropic medications prescribed to young…

Background: People with an acquired brain injury (ABI) can struggle to use social media after their injury, due to changes in their cognitive-communication skills, and would like help to improve their skills and connectivity. A focus group study in one Australian brain injury rehabilitation service recently found that ABI rehabilitation…

Internationally, over 60% of all lifetime cases of mental health disorders are identified as emerging by 25 years of age. In Australia, young people (aged 16-24 years) report the highest prevalence of mental health problems. Acceptability of mainstream services for young people is a concern, particularly for clients 18-25 years, heterosexual males…

Introduction: Adults with intellectual disabilities have an increased vulnerability to mental health problems and challenging behaviour. In addition to psychotherapeutic or psychoeducational methods, off-label pharmacotherapy, is a commonly used treatment modality. Objective: The aim of this study was to establish evidence-based guideline…

Aim: To determine whether short-phase Occupational Performance Coaching combined with service navigation support is feasible for families waiting for autism assessment. Method: A pilot feasibility study was conducted using a blinded randomization procedure that allocated participants to one of three trial arms: (1) face-to-face coaching, (2)…

Introduction: Speech Language Therapy First Point of Contact Clinic (SLT-FPOCC) models can assist assessment of low-risk patient populations referred to ear, nose and throat (ENT) services. To further improve ENT waitlist management and compliance with best-practice care, consideration of other low-risk populations that could be safely managed…

Children who lack functional spoken language are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Aided AAC and naturalistic interventions offer the potential to extend the communication functions demonstrated by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are nonspeaking. Related intervention research, however, has been…