Dr Margaret Wallen
Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy
School of Allied Health
Dr Wallen is an occupational therapist with a particular interest in optimising outcomes for people with cerebral palsy. Her research has largely focused on children, predominantly children with cerebral palsy. She is also interested in outcome measurement, evidence-based practice and knowledge translation. Margaret's research with children has included upper Iimb interventions in infants and children with cerebral palsy including constraint-induced movement therapy, bimanual interventions, wrist/hand orthoses and effects of occupational therapy and Botulinum toxin-A injections. In addition, she is involved with the Eyes on Communication team to identify and evaluate best practice implementation of eye-gaze control technology for enhancing participation and communication of people with cerebral palsy with significant disability.
Dr Wallen is passionate about consumer involvement in research and was honoured with a Churchill Fellowship which enabled her to harness the knowledge and expertise of eminent international research centres respected for their partnership with consumers, and apply the learnings to cerebral palsy research locally. She has lead research identifying ways to involve children with cerebral palsy and their families as research partners and to evaluate outcomes of consumer involvement.
Dr Wallen is also a chief investigator in CP-Achieve, a program of research focused on youth and young adults with cerebral palsy. This is a 5-year NHMRC-funded Centre for Research Excellence: CP-Achieve - Australian Centre for Health, Independence, Economic Participation and Value Enhanced Care for adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy (https://www.cp-achieve.org.au/).
Select publications
- Does exercise affect quality of life and participation of adults with cerebral palsy: A systematic review? Disability and Rehabilitation, accepted November 11 2022. Czencz, J., Shields, N., Wallen, M., Wilson, P. H., McGuckian, T. B. Imms, C.
- Impact of adapted bicycle riding on outcomes for children and adolescents with disabilities: A systematic review. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, accepted September 28 2022. Thevarajah, A., Wallen, M., Imms, C., Lonsdale, C., Carey, J., & Froude, E. 10.1111/dmcn.15446.
- Consumer involvement in research - parent perceptions of partnership in cerebral palsy research: A qualitative study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 2022, 1-11. Headrick, K., Thornton, M., Hogan, A., Deramore Denver, B., Drake, G., & Wallen, M. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2034992
- Perspectives of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy about involvement as research partners: A qualitative study. Disability and Rehabilitation, 2022, 44(16), 4293-4302. Cavens, C., Imms, C., Drake, G., Garrity, N., & Wallen, M. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1900927
- Implications of providing wrist-hand orthoses for children with cerebral palsy: Evidence from a randomised controlled trial. Disability and Rehabilitation, 2022, Online. Imms, C., Wallen, M., Elliott, C., Hoare, B., Greaves, S., Randall, M., & Orsini, F. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2079734
- Stewart K, Lewis J, Wallen M, Bear N, Harvey A. The Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy Functional Impact Scale: development and validation of a new tool. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2021.
- Karlsson P, Griffiths T, Clarke MT, Monbaliu E, Himmelmann K, Bekteshi S, et al. Stakeholder consensus for decision making in eye-gaze control technology for children, adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy service provision: Findings from a Delphi study. BMC Neurology. 2021;21(1):63.
- Cavens C, Imms C, Drake G, Garrity N, Wallen M. Perspectives of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy about involvement as research partners: a qualitative study. Disabil Rehabil. 2021:1-10.
- Crichton A, Ditchfield M, Gwini S, Wallen M, Thorley M, Bracken J, et al. Brain magnetic resonance imaging is a predictor of bimanual performance and executive function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2020;62(5):615-24.
- Hoare BJ, Wallen MA, Thorley MN, Jackman ML, Carey LM, Imms C. Constraint-induced movement therapy in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019;4:CD004149.
- Karlsson P, Allsop A, Dee-Price BJ, Wallen M. Eye-gaze control technology for children, adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy with significant physical disability: Findings from a systematic review. Dev Neurorehabil. 2018;21(8):497-505.
Projects
- iWHOTrial: A multicentre randomised controlled trial of rigid wrist hand orthoses for young children with cerebral palsy. Imms, and others. Chief investigator E. Funded by Australian Catholic University (ACU) grant and the Centre for Research Excellence-Cerebral Palsy (CRE-CP). Recruitment completed.
- REACH: Randomised trial of Rehabilitation very Early in Congenital Hemiplegia. Boyd, Ziviani and others. Associate Investigator. NHMRC funded. Data analysis underway.
- Cognition and bimanual performance in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Hoare, Crichton and others. Data collection completed
- Eyes on Communication Study Group. Clinical Guidelines for eye-gaze control technology - Knowledge Translation Project: Clinician Perspectives on priorities for facilitating uptake. Karlsson, McInerney, Stevens-Hofer, Griffiths, Clark, Pereksles, Hansom & Wallen. Data collection completed.
- Implementation of an evidence-based intervention in an Australian context with youth with complex disability and evaluation of involvement of consumer research partners. Cassidy, Imms, Hunter, Garrity, Anaby, Frederickson, Dimarco, Bannon and Wallen. Manuscript in preparation
- Evaluation of the involvement of consumer research partners in the implementation of the PREP Project in an Australian context. Dimarco, Imms, Hunter, Garrity, Anaby, Frederickson, Cassidy, Mangal and Wallen. Data collection completed
- NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence 2020-2024 (App 1171758) for Australian Centre for Health, Independence, Economic Participation and Value Enhanced care for adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy (CP-Achieve) as Chief Investigator: Reddihough, Imms, Carter, Shields, Graham, Morgan, Coghill, Sawyer, Wallen, Honan. Consumer involvement embedded theme leader; various projects.
- Evaluating exercise interventions to improve activity, participation and quality of life for those living with complex forms of cerebral palsy. Czencz, Wallen, Imms, Shields, Wilson. Underway.
- An investigation and evaluation of an adapted bike program for children 4 to 18 years with disabilities. Thevarajah, Lonsdale, Wallen, Imms, Froude. Underway
- Perspectives of parents of children with cerebral palsy following surgery for scoliosis: A qualitative study. Price, Stewart, Imms, Kelderman, Carman, Wallen. Data collection completed
- Mentor and mentee perspectives of the mentor program for young adult advisors to CP-Achieve. Wallen, Koder, Cotton, Czencz, Birnie, Plummer & Harris. Data collection completed
- The experiences and perceptions of participation in daily life of adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy: A scoping review. Cleary, Morgan, Honan, Culnane, Gains, Karlsson, Shields, Wallen & Reddihough. Protocol registered on Open Science Framework 12th April 2021. Data analysis underway.
- Evaluation of consumer involvement in CP-ACHIEVE: Mixed methods and multiple perspectives. Headrick, Woodman, Imms & Wallen. Underway.
- Eyes on Communication: Perspectives of people with cerebral palsy using eye-gaze technology, and their communication partners, about best practice assessment, trial, implementation and evaluation. Elliott, Karlsson, McInerney & Wallen. Ethics application submitted.
- A novel technology-enhanced method to support home therapy programs for preschool children with cerebral palsy: Parent perceptions of CPToys. Cookson, Wallen & Hoare. Ethics application submitted.
Accolades and Awards
- 2020 Vice-Chancellor's Staff Excellence Award, Spirit of Reconciliation category Team Award for: Embedding First Peoples "knowing, being, and doing" in the occupational therapy curriculum.
- Cochrane systematic review, Constraint-induced movement therapy in children with unilateral cerebral palsy, was selected to feature as a Cochrane Organisation Podcast
- Gayle G. Arnold Award for the Best Scientific Paper for Constraint-induced movement therapy in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. Presented by B. Hoare at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio October 12 2018.
- Churchill Fellowship 2016 to visit Canada, USA, The Netherlands, and UK for: People with cerebral palsy and their families as partners in research: International best practice
Appointments and Affiliations
- Chief Investigator I NHMRC funded Centre of Research Excellence: CP-Achieve.
Editorial roles
- Editorial Board: Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics
