Dr Susan Darzins

Susan is senior lecturer and national course coordinator for the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy program as well as Interprofessional Education Lead in the School of Allied Health. She has been an occupational therapist for more than 35 years with most of her experience in adult rehabilitation, vocational rehabilitation, as well as academic teaching roles and research.

She has a particular interest in research measuring the impacts of therapy services on people's health, wellbeing and participation. She developed the Home Support Needs Assessment (HSNA) (Darzins, 2018) and is collaborating with external partners to support them to embed this assessment into routine practice to enable measurement of the impact of their services on patient outcomes in health care settings.

Susan has also been co-investigator on an Australian national Department of Health funded randomised controlled trial investigating occupational therapy student learning and practice outcomes from a week-long simulated clinical placement compared to traditional clinical placement. Prior to completing her PhD she completed a Master of Medical Science (Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics) from the University of Newcastle and then spent five years working at McMaster University Medical Centre, Ontario, Canada, gaining experience in vocational assessment and as a problem-based learning tutor in their pre-registration occupational therapy program. In her academic roles in Australia spanning more than 20 years Susan has taken responsibility for developing and leading both large and small group-based curricula, Problem Based Learning (PBL), as well as blended learning (face-to-face and online) study units. She has experience in developing and delivering Bachelor level programs and Graduate Entry Master Occupational Therapy programs. Susan's teaching has touched on adult and older adult physical health and rehabilitation assessment and measurement in occupational therapy occupational rehabilitation occupational health and safety models relevant to occupational therapy practice humans as occupational beings and ageing and participation. She has supervised many Honours and Masters level research students to thesis completion.

Mynard, L.,  Joosten, A.,  D'Souza, A.,  Ashley, D., &  Darzins, S. (2024).  Occupational therapy with patients in forensic solitary confinement: A qualitative study. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal,  1&ndash14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12930

Tse, T.,  Skorik, S.,  Fraser, R.,  Munro, A., &  Darzins, S. (2024).  Testing feasibility of relevant outcome measures in an inpatient setting to demonstrate the value of occupational therapy. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal,  1&ndash14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12920

Roche, N., Darzins, S., Oakman, J., & Stuckey, R. (2024). Worker experiences of the work health and safety impacts of exposure to dying and death in non-clinical settings: a qualitative scoping review. Mortality, 1&ndash26. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2024.2315988

Ellis, J., Garner, E., Webster, K., Darzins, S., Galea, M.P., Scheinberg, A. (2022). Establishing an Australian pediatric spinal cord disorder register using consumer, health professional and researcher perspectives. The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine Sep 6:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/10790268.2022.2115513

Roche, N., Darzins, S., Oakman, J., & Stuckey, R. (2022). Worker Experiences of the work health and safety impacts of exposure to dying and death in clinical settings: A qualitative scoping review. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221117902

Roche, N., Darzins, S., & Stuckey, R. (2022). Funeral industry workers&rsquo work health and safety in Australia and Ireland. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221075289

Unsworth, C., Baker, A., Morton-Kehle, D., Darzins, S. (2022). Survey of occupational therapy driver assessors&rsquo rehabilitation interventions with older drivers. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health,  https://doi.org/10.1177/15394492211050634

Maritz, R., Baptiste, S., Darzins, S.W., Magasi, S., Weleschuk, C., Prodinger, B. (2018). Linking occuptional therapy models and assessments to the ICF to enable standardized documentation of functioning. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, pp. 330-341. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0008417418797146

Imms, C., Froude, E., Chu, EMY., Sheppard, L., Darzins, S., Guinea, S., Gospodarevskaya, E., Carter, R., Symmons, MA., Penman, M., Nicola-Richmond, K., Gilbert-Hunt, S., Gribble, N., Ashby, S., Mathieu, E. (2018). Simulated versus traditional occupational therapy placements: A randomised controlled trial. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. 65: 556-564. http://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12513

Imms, C., Chu, E.M.Y., Guinea, S., Sheppard, L., Froude, E., Carter, R., Darzins, S., Ashby, S., Gilbert-Hunt, S., Gribble, N., Nicola-Richmond, K., Penman, M., Gospodarevskaya, E., Mathieu, E., Symmons, M (2017). Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of embedded simulation in occupational therapy clinical practice education: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 18, 345. http://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-017-2087-0

Darzins, S., Imms, C., Di Stefano, M. (2016). Measurement of activity limitations and participation restrictions: examination of ICF-linked content and scale properties of the PC-PART and FIM instruments, Disability and Rehabilitation, http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2016.1172670.

Darzins, S., Imms, C., Di Stefano, M., Radia-George, C. (2016). Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool: Clinical utility for inpatient rehabilitation, Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0008417416648446

Fortune, T., Ennals, P., Bhopti, A., Neilson, C., Darzins, S., Bruce, C. (2016). Bridging identity 'chasms': occupational therapy academics' reflections on the journey toward scholarship, Teaching in Higher Education, 1470-1294 (online) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1141289

Prodinger, B., Darzins, S., Magasi, S., Baptiste, S. (2015). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF): Revisiting its relevancy for Occupational Therapy, World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 71:2, 108-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/2056607715Y.0000000003

Darzins, S., Imms, C., Shields, N., Taylor, N.F. (2015). Responsiveness, construct and criterion validity of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART), Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 13:125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12955-015-0322-5

Darzins, S., Imms, C., Di Stefano, M., Taylor, N., Pallant, J. (2014). Evaluation of the internal construct validity of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART) using Rasch analysis. BMC Health Services Research,14:543
. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-014-0543-z

Darzins, S., Imms, C., Di Stefano, M. (2013). Measurement properties of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART): a systematic review. Disability & Rehabilitation, 35 (4) 265-281.
 http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.690819

Kunelius, A., Darzins, S., Cromie, J. (2007). Development of normative data for hand strength and anthropometric dimensions in a population of automotive workers, Work: a Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation, 28(3), 267-278

Darzins, P., Fone, S.  Darzins, S. (2006). Viewpoint: The international classification of functioning, disability and health can help to structure and evaluate therapy. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 53, 127-131.
 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1630.2006.00580.x

Mason, R., Darzins, S., Cromie, J. (2005). Workers&rsquo compensation insurance agents&rsquo satisfaction with occupational therapy activities of daily living assessments, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 52, 225-231.

Quirk, M., Best, M., Darzins, S. (2004) An evaluation of the Victorian code of practice (manual handling) risk assessment worksheet, Occupational Health and Safety &ndash Australia and New Zealand, 20(4):359-369.

Stock, SR., Streiner, D., Reardon, R., Darzins, S., Dilworth, P., Tugwell, P., Lolsel, P. (1995)  The impact of neck and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders on the lives of affected workers:  development of a new functional status index. Quality of Life research, Vol 4 (491).

Susan has been a co-investigator on an Australian Government Department of Health funded  randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of embedding simulation based learning into occupational therapy education as replacement of professional education hours.

Susan's current research focuses on validation and use of participation-related outcome measures relevant to occupational therapy practice. Susan is interested in research focused on measurement of the impact of occupational therapy services, particularly in inpatient health care settings. Her doctoral research focused on measurement properties of the Personal Care-Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART) when used in an inaptient rehabilitaiton setting. Since completing her doctorate, Susan has developed a revised version of the PC-PART called the Home Support Needs Assessment (HSNA). The HSNA identifies people's support needs in all areas of daily living required to sustain community life. The assessment can be used with adults of all ages in hospital or community settings. Susan's research focuses on embedding measures such as the HSNA into routine practice to aid clinical decison-making, prioritisation of interventions and to improve interprofessional collaboration focused on person-centred, coordinated services.

Susan is a researcher with local health sector, national, and international research collaborators. Her research focuses on measurement of outcomes relevant to occupational therapy practice. Her doctoral research focused on validation of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool for use in rehabilitaiton settings. She is interested in the concept and measurement of participation-related constructs, as described by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and their relevance in building evidence about occupational therapy practice.

Susan is an experienced academic with responsibility for developing and leading both large and small group-based curricula, Problem Based Learning, as well as Blended learning (face-to-face and online) study units. She has experience in developing and delivering Bachelor level programs and Graduate Entry Master Occupational Therapy programs.She has supervised Honours and Masters level research students.

Susan's teaching has touched on adult and older adult physical health and rehabilitation; assessment and measurement in occupational therapy; occupational rehabilitation; occupational health and safety; models relevant to occupational therapy practice; humans as occupational beings; and ageing and participtaion.

Registered Occupational Therapist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency

Occupational Therapy Australia.

World Federation of Occupational Therapists

Indigenous Allied Health Australia (Associate member)

Australian and new Zealand Association of Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE)

Australasian Interprofessional Practice & Education Network (AIPPEN)