The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne

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.

 

Publications

2011

Galvin, J., McDonald, R., Catroppa, C. & Anderson, V. (2011). Does intervention using virtual reality improve upper limb function in children with neurological impairment: A systematic review of the evidence. Brain Injury, 25(5), 435-442.

Galvin, J., Hewish, S., Rice, J., Mackay, M.T. (2011). Functional outcome following paediatric stroke. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 14(2);  67–71.

Galvin, J., Levac, D.E. (2011). Facilitating clinical decision-making about the use of virtual reality within paediatric motor rehabilitation: Describing and classifying virtual reality systems. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 14(2); 112–122.

 

2010

Chevignard, M., Catroppa, C., Galvin, J. & Anderson, V. (2010). Ecological assessment of executive skills following paediatric TBI.  Brain Impairment. 11(2), 125-143.

Galvin, J., Froude, E.H. & Imms, C. (2009).  Sensory processing abilities of children who have sustained traumatic brain injuries. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63, 701-709.

Galvin, J., Froude, E.H. & McAleer, J. (2010).  Children’s Participation in Home, School and Community Life After Acquired Brain Injury.  Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 57(2), 118-126.

Galvin, J., Lim, B.K.J., Steer, K., Edwards, J. & Lee, K.J. (2010). Predictors of functional ability of Australian children with acquired brain injury following inpatient rehabilitation. Brain Injury, 24(7-8), 1008-1016.

Galvin, J., & Mandalis, A. (2009). Executive skills and their functional implications:  Approaches to rehabilitation after child TBI. Developmental NeuroRehabilitation 12(5), 352-360.

Galvin, J., Randall, M., Hewish, S., Rice, J. & MacKay, M.T. (2010).  Family centred outcome measurement following paediatric stroke.  Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 57(3), 152-158.

Imms, C., Cowan, R., Ertekin, E., Klein, G.-L. and Galvin, J. (2010), Eight weeks of occupational therapy home programme, compared to no programme, resulted in improved achievement of child and family-selected goals by children with cerebral palsy. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 57: 444–445.

Stewart, J., Galvin, J., Lentin, P. & Froude, E.H. (2010). Evaluation of the Australian adaptation of the Keeping It Together (KIT-Australia) information package with carers of children with special needs. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. 57(3), 268-275.

2009

Scheinberg, A. (2009).  Clinical use of botulinum toxin.  Australian Prescriber  32(2), 39-42.

Swain, M.A., Joy, P.J., Bakker, K., Shores, E.A. & West, C. (2009). Object-based visual processing in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus: A cognitive neuropsychological analysis. Journal of Neuropsychology, Vol 3, 229-244.