Researcher profile

Associate Professor Erin Conway

Faculty of Health Sciences, Deputy Head of National School of Allied Health

Areas of expertise: speech pathology; dementia and communication; aged care; neurological communication disorders
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1740-2562
Phone: +61 7 3626 7852
Email: erin.conway@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Brisbane Campus

A/Prof Erin Conway is a Speech Pathologist and Deputy Head of School of Allied Health QLD. Her research interests and expertise relate to communication changes experienced by people with dementia, their impact and the evaluation of treatments that aim to improve communication for people with dementia. Her research ultimately aims to improve access to evidence-based speech pathology services that will support communication for people with dementia.

A/Prof Conway is also interested in the interaction between communication and quality of life, quality of care and quality of interpersonal relationships for people with dementia and in aged care more broadly.

Select publications

• O'Connor CMC, Liddle J, O'Reilly M, Meyer C, Cartwright J, Chisholm M, Conway E, Fielding E, Fox A, MacAndrew M, Schnitker L, Travers C, Watson K, While C, Bail K. (2021). Advocating the rights of people with dementia to contribute to research: Considerations for researchers and ethics committees. Australasian Journal of Ageing. doi: 10.1111/ajag.13023
• Mok, Z., Steel, G., Russell, C., & Conway, E. (2021). Measuring the interactions of people with dementia and their conversation partners: a preliminary adaption of the Kagan measures of support and participation in conversation. Aging & Mental health, 25(1), 13-21. doi:10.1080/13607863.2019.1671314
• Meyer, C. J., Koh, S. S., Hill, A. J., Conway, E. R., Ryan, B. J., McKinnon, E. R., & Pachana, N. A. (2020). Hear, Communicate, Remember: Feasibility of delivering an integrated intervention for family caregivers of people with dementia and hearing impairment via telehealth. Dementia, 9(8), 2671-2701. doi: 10.1177/1471301219850703.
• Sluis, R. A., Campbell, A., Atay, C., Conway, E., Mok, Z., Angwin, A. J., ... & Mai-Whelan, B. (2019). Conversational trouble and repair in dementia: Revision of an existing coding framework. Journal of Communication Disorders, doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2019.105912
• Conway, E. R., Watson, B., Tatangelo, G., & McCabe, M. (2018). Is it all bleak? A systematic review of factors contributing to relationship change in dementia. International psychogeriatrics, 1-19. doi: 10.1017/S1041610218000303
• Swan, K., Hopper, M., Wenke, R., Jackson, C., Till, T., & Conway, E. (2018). Speech-Language Pathologist Interventions for Communication in Moderate and Severe Dementia: A Systematic Review. American journal of speech-language pathology, 27(2), 836-852. doi: 10.1044/2017_AJSLP-17-0043
• Conway, E., & Chenery, H. (2016). Evaluating the MESSAGE Communication Strategies in Dementia training for use with community-based aged care staff working with people with dementia: A controlled pretest-posttest study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. doi: 10.1111/jocn.13134

Projects

• What do you say? Perspectives, priorities and recommendations to enhance communication reablement in dementia care; 2021-2023; Conway, Flanagan & Bennett. Funded by Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration Pilot Grant Scheme ($75,000)
• Putting the broken bits together: Improving Conversations about Care through Experience-Based Co-Design; 2021-2023; Wallace, Angwin, Conway & Torresi ($75,000)
• Mentoring Programs in Aged Care: A Critical Realist Review; 2021; Hodgkin & Conway. Funded by ACU Faculty of Health Sciences Research Project Grant ($9940)
• The use of supportive photographic menu tool for hospital inpatients with dementia: A mixed methods randomised controlled study; 2019-2022; Williams, Wenke, Hopper, Hughes, Rose, Conway, Lawrie, & Hopper. Funded by Gold Coast Health Collaborative Research Grant Scheme ($57,800)

Appointment and affiliations

• Speech Pathology Australia, Aged Care Working Party Member
• Speech Pathology Australia, Practice Guideline for Working with People who Experience Dementia Working Party Member