Research
Research Overview
The Paediatric Rehabilitation Service is committed to providing best practice services for children who have functional difficulties as a result of injury, illness or medical procedure. To assist in meeting this aim, the Rehabilitation team aims to generate research projects that measure functional abilities at home, school and in the community. The team also aims to generate projects investigating the effectiveness of interventions to improve functional outcome for children and their families.
Current research projects focus on the development of paediatric-specific measures of mobility following a traumatic brain injury, investigating interventions to improve hand and arm function following TBI, describing functional outcomes following paediatric stroke, and investigating communication difficulties following paediatric TBI.
Our research portfolio will extend to investigating functional outcomes and interventions for children with functional difficulties as a result of cerebral palsy, spinal injury and disease in the near future. The Rehabilitation service works in partnership with other research groups within the RCH and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI). The rehabilitation service is currently working alongside researchers from the Critical Care and Neurosciences Theme of MCRI to develop projects related to paediatric ABI.
Current Projects
Project Title: Clinical utility of virtual reality technology in upper limb rehabiltation for children following traumatic brain injury
Investigators: Galvin, J., Randall, M., Jordan, D., Olsen, J., Smith, S., Phuah, T, Anderson, V., & McDonald, R.
Grants: Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative
Status: Commenced May 2008
Summary: This project aims to study whether the use of Virtual Reality (VR) Technology is useful in improving upper limb function in children who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The system offers a variety of games for different ages and abilities, which can be graded therapeutically to target specific movements or skills. Children with TBI experience a range of difficulties including impaired attention, motor planning, balance, coordination, tone, fatigue and range of motion, all of which can compromise functional arm use in daily activities. This project aims to study whether the use of VR technology is useful in improving upper limb outcomes of children who have sustained a TBI. VR technology has been found to be effective with adult clinical populations; however there have been no studies investigating the potential use of VR for children with TBI.
Project Title: Mobility Skills Following Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury
Investigators: Kissane, A., Eldridge, B., Rice, J., Williams, G., Galea, M., and Dunne, K.
Grants: Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative
Status: Commenced January 2007
Due for completion
Summary: Physical problems following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) limit the normal development of mobility skills such as walking, running and jumping. These skills are fundamental components of the everyday social, sporting and leisure pursuits of children and adolescents. A reliable, sensitive and age-appropriate outcome measure is essential to record motor performance in children following paediatric TBI and enable clinicians to evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. To date, no outcome measure has been published that quantifies the mobility skills required for normal everyday childhood activities.
The High Level Mobility Assessment Tool (HiMAT) is a set of physical tests developed to assess mobility in young adults. It does not require expensive equipment and can be completed in a wide range of environments. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the HiMAT is appropriate for use on children and adolescents. This project aims to evaluate the HiMAT as an outcome measure in children recovering from TBI.
Project Title: Maintenance of functional gains following inpatient rehabilitation
Investigators: Williams, H., Galvin, J., and Froude, E.
Grants: N/A
Status: Commencing recruitment January 2008
Summary: This pilot study will investigate what happens to a child's ability to dress themselves, move around, and communicate after they have been discharged from inpatient rehabilitation. The study will help to understand what factors help children to keep improving once they go home, and what factors make it difficult for them and their families at home. More specifically, the study will be looking at whether or not te gains made during rehabilitation are maintained once the child is discharged home.
Project Title: Recovery of upper limb skills following paediatric traumatic brain injury
Investigators: Galvin, J., Anderson, V., McDonald, R.
Grants: Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative
Status: Commenced May 2008
Summary: This project aims to investigate recovery of fine motor skills following TBI. Children's motor skills and functional abilities will be tracked over the first 12 months post injury to assist in understanding typical recovery patterns, and to provide baseline information for future intervention studies.
Completed projects
Project Title: Children’s participation in school, community and home life after brain injury.
Investigators: McAleer, J., Galvin, J., and Froude, E.
Status: Completed January 2008
Summary: This project aimed to describe children's participation at home, school and in the community. Children who had had an ABI were found to have most restrictions in their ability to participate in unstructured activity at school and in the community.
Outcomes: The results of this project were presented at the OT Australia National Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, 2008. The outcomes of this project are also being reviewed for publication in a peer reviewed journal.
Project Title: Families perceptions of care in inpatient rehabilitation
Investigators: Trachtenberg, S., Galvin, J., & Hickey, L.
Status: Completed December 2007
Summary: This project aims to measure the extent to which families feel that services provided by the inpatient rehabilitation service are family centred. The Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC) was used and found that caregivers would like more information about their child's condition. The MPOC will be used annually to monitor perceptions of service provision within rehabilitation.
Publications
Galvin, J., & Mandalis, A. (2009). Executive skills and their functional implications: Approaches to rehabilitation after child TBI. Developmental NeuroRehabilitation 12(5), 352-360.
Scheinberg, A. (2009). Clinical use of botulinum toxin. Australian Prescriber 32(2), 39-42.