https://hdl.handle.net/2123/9187 2026-06-09T23:43:03Z 2026-06-09T23:43:03Z Hines, Monique Bulkeley, Kim Lincoln, Michelle Cameron, Sue Dudley, Simone https://hdl.handle.net/2123/18362 2026-04-29T00:31:54Z 2018-06-14T00:00:00Z

Telepractice: A legitimate choice for quality disability services Hines, Monique; Bulkeley, Kim; Lincoln, Michelle; Cameron, Sue; Dudley, Simone The Wobbly Hub Rural Research Team has heard repeatedly from families living in rural and remote Australia how difficult it is to access allied health therapy services. As a result, many children with disabilities living in these areas do not receive the therapy services they need. Telepractice has the potential to increase access to therapy in rural and remote areas. However, some parents, carers, and allied health therapists are unsure or even skeptical about whether it is possible to deliver a quality therapy service over the internet. In this video, we present what we have learned from our research conducted with our partners at Therapy Connect, including facts that dispel three myths about telepractice.

2018-06-14T00:00:00Z Hines, Monique Bulkeley, Kim Lincoln, Michelle Cameron, Sue Dudley, Simone https://hdl.handle.net/2123/17369 2026-04-29T00:31:49Z 2017-11-02T00:00:00Z

Telepractice for children with complex disability: Guidelines for quality allied health services Hines, Monique; Bulkeley, Kim; Lincoln, Michelle; Cameron, Sue; Dudley, Simone Telepractice has the potential to spread allied health professionals’ (AHPs’) reach further into rural Australia. There are fewer AHPs in rural and remote Australia compared to metropolitan areas. This means that children with disabilities living in rural areas may not receive the therapy services they need. Providing therapy services via telepractice could reduce these inequities and ensure that all children receive the supports they need, regardless of where they live. Telepractice guidelines in allied health rightly insist that telepractice services should be equivalent in quality to those delivered in-person (Speech Pathology Australia [SPA], 2014). Therefore, telepractice services should not simply be an option of last resort, but should be a quality option for disability services. Yet, how can AHPs ensure that their telepractice services are equivalent in quality to those they deliver in-person? As a first step towards exploring this issue, we conducted a research study funded by the auDA Foundation in 2016-17, and in partnership with Therapy Connect, a private allied health practice. We collected information about the allied health telepractice services received by four children with complex disabilities and their families living in rural or remote Australia. We found that AHPs, despite being geographically remote from children and families, could deliver services consistent with contemporary practice and supported children to achieve positive, functional outcomes. We identified the essential components of successful telepractice models needed to achieve real outcomes for children with disabilities through this and other research conducted by the Wobbly Hub Rural Research Team. Our key learnings from this research informed the development of guidelines for telepractice delivery of allied health services to children with complex disability, as summarised in this document.

2017-11-02T00:00:00Z Hines, Monique Bulkeley, Kim Lincoln, Michelle Cameron, Sue Dudley, Simone https://hdl.handle.net/2123/17243 2026-04-29T00:31:51Z 2017-10-04T00:00:00Z

Telepractice for children with complex disability: Quality service delivery Hines, Monique; Bulkeley, Kim; Lincoln, Michelle; Cameron, Sue; Dudley, Simone Telepractice is the delivery of therapy services at a distance by linking clinicians to clients, carers, or others, via technology such as web-based videoconferencing. Funded by auDA Foundation in 2016-17, and in partnership with TherapyConnect, a private allied health practice, we collected information about the telepractice services received by four children with disability and their families living in rural or remote Australia. We found that quality allied health services can be provided via telepractice to children with complex disability and their families. We also identified essential components of successful telepractice models. Project brief

2017-10-04T00:00:00Z Hines, Monique Lincoln, Michelle https://hdl.handle.net/2123/16485 2026-04-29T00:09:11Z 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Boosting the recruitment and retention of new graduate speech-language pathologists for the disability workforce Hines, Monique; Lincoln, Michelle New graduate speech-language pathologists (SLPs) will play an integral role in meeting the anticipated growth in demand for a highly skilled disability workforce under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Despite the promise of the NDIS for making a real difference to the lives of people living with disability in Australia, implementation will have major implications for factors known to support new graduate recruitment and retention in the disability sector. In this article, we consider how the NDIS is likely to affect (a) clinical placements in disability while at university, and (b) access to clinical supervision and continuing professional development (CPD) in the workplace, and propose strategies to address these challenges. This article was first published in the Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology, 18(2), 2016. The Speech Pathology Association of Australia owns the copyright in the article.

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z Hines, Monique Lincoln, Michelle Ramsden, Robyn Martinovich, Julia Fairweather, Craig https://hdl.handle.net/2123/16483 2026-04-29T00:09:11Z 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Speech pathologists’ perspectives on transitioning to telepractice: What factors promote acceptance? Hines, Monique; Lincoln, Michelle; Ramsden, Robyn; Martinovich, Julia; Fairweather, Craig Little is understood about factors that influence speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs’) acceptance of telepractice. The aim of this study was to investigate SLPs’ perceptions and experiences of transitioning to a school-based telepractice service to identify factors that contributed to positive clinician attitudes. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 SLPs who recently commenced providing school-based telepractice services. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and thematic analysis was used to interpret interviews, with themes compared and contrasted across the group. Results indicated that although SLPs reported initially having mixed feelings towards telepractice, they later evaluated telepractice positively and viewed it as a legitimate service delivery mode. The overarching theme was that positive beliefs about telepractice were associated with perceptions of its consistency with the underlying principles of face-to-face therapy. In evaluating telepractice, SLPs considered: (a) therapeutic relationships with children; (b) collaboration with parents and teachers; (c) adequacy of technology and resources; and (d) access to support for learning telepractice. Therapy assistants and specific clinician attributes emerged as key strategies used to manage threats to acceptability. Preparation of SLPs transitioning to telepractice should address factors that support positive experiences with, and attitudes towards, telepractice to ensure that training achieves the greatest, most sustained change. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 21(8), 2015, published by SAGE Publishing. All rights reserved. Published version of the article is available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1357633X15604555

2015-01-01T00:00:00Z Dew, Angela Happ, Vicki Bulkeley, Kim Bundy, Anita Lincoln, Michelle Gallego, Gisselle Brentnall, Jennie Veitch, Craig https://hdl.handle.net/2123/16484 2026-04-29T00:31:59Z 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z

Rural Carers of People with Disabilities: Making Choices to Move or to Stay Dew, Angela; Happ, Vicki; Bulkeley, Kim; Bundy, Anita; Lincoln, Michelle; Gallego, Gisselle; Brentnall, Jennie; Veitch, Craig When a child is born with, or an individual acquires, a disability in rural Australia, one of the decisions faced by the family is whether to remain living in a rural area or move to a larger metropolitan centre to access support services such as therapy. Understanding the factors that rural carers weigh up in making the decision to move or stay can inform the successful implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in rural areas. Seventy-eight rural carers were recruited to participate in individual interviews or focus groups to discuss access to therapy services. Data were analysed using modified grounded theory involving thematic analysis and constant comparison. Participants made decisions about whether to stay living in their rural community or to move to a larger centre to receive therapy services according to three interlinked factors: personal factors related to their other family caring responsibilities; social factors including their informal support networks of family, friends, and community; and economic factors including employment and the time and cost of travelling to access specialist services in larger centres. These factors need to be considered in the roll-out of the NDIS to ensure that rural service users enjoy the benefit of a real choice to live in a rural area without reducing their access to support services. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published online by Taylor & Francis in Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities on 27 May 2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/23297018.2014.908481

2014-01-01T00:00:00Z Dew, Angela Gallego, Gisselle Bulkeley, Kim Veitch, Craig Brentnall, Jennie Lincoln, Michelle Bundy, Anita Griffiths, Scott https://hdl.handle.net/2123/16482 2026-04-29T00:31:54Z 2014-09-01T00:00:00Z

Policy Development and Implementation for Disability Services in Rural New South Wales, Australia Dew, Angela; Gallego, Gisselle; Bulkeley, Kim; Veitch, Craig; Brentnall, Jennie; Lincoln, Michelle; Bundy, Anita; Griffiths, Scott Throughout their lives, all people, including those who have a disability, use a broad range of community services. Community services are important in assisting people with a range of impairments to participate in their communities. Vast geographic distances and a lack of therapists in rural and remote regions of Australia pose significant barriers for implementing policy aimed at supporting people with a disability. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which metropolitan-formulated policy encompassed the unique geographic, demographic, and sociocultural challenges experienced by rural therapists and people with a disability in New South Wales (NSW). Twenty-seven policy documents were reviewed and categorized into tier 1 (higher level strategic policies) and tier 2 (specific operational policies). Tier 1 policy documents provided consistent messages about the need to develop strategies and service delivery options to address geographic, cultural, and age-related barriers facing all people in NSW including those who have a disability. Tier 2 documents revealed a lack of attention to the practical differences between implementing the policy principles in metropolitan compared with rural areas. Study findings identify that the implementation of metropolitan-formulated policy does not always encompass the unique challenges experienced by therapists providing services to rural people with a disability and their carers. This study highlights the importance of “rural proofing” policy to consider people who live and work in rural areas. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Dew, A., Gallego, G., Bulkeley, K., Veitch, C., Brentnall, J., Lincoln, M., Bundy, A., Griffiths, S. (2014). Policy development and implementation for disability services in rural New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 11(3), 200-209, which has been published in final form at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jppi.12088/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

2014-09-01T00:00:00Z Dew, Angela Iljadica, Alexandra Chedid, Rebecca Gallego, Gisselle https://hdl.handle.net/2123/11441 2026-04-29T00:31:55Z 2014-06-01T00:00:00Z

Carer' Therapy Access Survey Dew, Angela; Iljadica, Alexandra; Chedid, Rebecca; Gallego, Gisselle In response to a Carers’ Therapy Access Survey conducted from November 2012 until July 2013, 166 carers shared their insights on the therapy access requirements of people with a disability or developmental delay in western New South Wales (NSW). Questions in the survey included what therapy services were used, how they were paid for and what equipment and technology was used by carers and people with a disability.

2014-06-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/9402 2026-04-29T00:31:58Z 2013-09-01T00:00:00Z

Listening to Aboriginal people in rural and remote western NSW Over the past 3 years we have been learning about and testing new ways to deliver therapy services to people with a disability in rural areas. The Wobbly Hub team is based at the Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Sydney and often visits communities in Western NSW. The project was developed in partnership with management and frontline staff from NSW Ageing Disability and Home Care, Western Region. Their help to the project design and ongoing support has been invaluable to the project’s success. The Wobbly Hub team is keen to explore other ways to work with communities in rural and remote areas to support Aboriginal people with a disability. We have recently linked with Dr John Gilroy, a Koori man from the Yuin Nation who has worked in the disability field for many years. John’s research identified factors that influence the participation of Aboriginal people in disability services.

2013-09-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/9401 2026-04-29T00:31:48Z 2013-09-01T00:00:00Z

Individual Funding: the experiences of families in rural areas

2013-09-01T00:00:00Z Veitch, Craig Lincoln, Michelle Bundy, Anita Gallego, Gisselle Brentnall, Jennie https://hdl.handle.net/2123/9284 2026-04-29T00:31:52Z 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z

Informing Evidence-Based Health Policy for Rural Australia Veitch, Craig; Lincoln, Michelle; Bundy, Anita; Gallego, Gisselle; Brentnall, Jennie

2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Dew, Angela Barton, Rebecca Ragen, Jo https://hdl.handle.net/2123/9233 2026-04-29T00:31:55Z 2013-07-01T00:00:00Z

Delivering private therapy in rural Australia Dew, Angela; Barton, Rebecca; Ragen, Jo Enabling high quality, sustainable and accessible services: A framework for rural private therapists.

2013-07-01T00:00:00Z Dew, Angela Bulkeley, Kim Iljadica, Alexandra https://hdl.handle.net/2123/9234 2026-04-29T00:31:50Z 2013-07-01T00:00:00Z

The Wobbly Hub & Double Spokes project: people with a disability in rural areas. Dew, Angela; Bulkeley, Kim; Iljadica, Alexandra The Wobbly Hub and Double Spokes project aims to develop, implement and evaluate new models of therapy service delivery for people with a disability living in rural areas. Based on our research work in Western NSW and the experience of the team, we have developed four streams of enquiry related to people with a disability in rural areas: Insights into rural contexts; access to supports; alternative service models and workforce development.

2013-07-01T00:00:00Z