Our people

Dr Susan Darzins

Senior Lecturer and National Course Coordinator (Bachelor of Occupational Therapy), Interprofessional Education Lead
School of Allied Health

Areas of expertise: occupational therapy; outcome measurement; health services research; participation; interprofessional education

Phone: 03 9953 3149

Email: susan.darzins@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Melbourne Campus

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1852-3566

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.

Download curriculum vitae

Select publications

• Roche, N., Stuckey, R., Darzins, S., Oakman, J (in press). 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'
• Ellis, J., Garner, E., Webster, K. E., 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, 1-9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10790268.2022.2115513
• Roche, N., Darzins, S., & Stuckey, R. (2022). Funeral industry workers' work health and safety in Australia and Ireland. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 0 (0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221075289
• Unsworth CA, Baker A, Morton-Kehle D, Darzins S. Survey of occupational therapy driver assessors' rehabilitation interventions with older drivers. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health. 2022;42(2):115-126. 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. https://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

Projects

• Project: Interprofessional Immersive Extended Ward-based Simulation Project.
  Year: 2022
  Funded by: Australian Catholic University, Office of the Provost - 2022 Innovation Fund
  Funds: $46066
  Investigators: Prof. Beth Jacob, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine; Dr Mel Barlow, FHS Academic Lead for specialized learning environments and simulation; Robyn Dickie, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine; Susan Darzins, School of Allied Health; Rett Quinney, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine.

• Project: Aligning inter-professional learning in the School of Allied Health (SoAH) to the ACU Inter-Professional Education Framework and discipline-specific professional competency standards and corresponding university IPE accreditation requirements.
  Year: 2021-2022
  Funded by: Australian Catholic University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Teaching Development Grant
  Funds: $8000
  Investigators: Dr Susan Darzins, Prof. Suzanne Kuys, Assoc. Prof. Elspeth Froude, Ms Shari Maver, Dr Aniqa Farwa, Dr Michelle Smith-Tamaray, Mr Nick Flynn, School of Allied Health

• Project: Aligning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content embedded in the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy curriculum to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework and Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards 2018.
  Year: 2019
  Funded by: Australian Catholic University, Faculty of Health Sciences Teaching and Learning grant
  Funds: $4943
  Investigators: Dr Susan Darzins and Ms Kerrie Thomsen, Assoc. Prof. Loretta Sheppard, Dr Margaret Wallen, Mr Hugh Stewart, Assoc. Prof Elspeth Froude.

• Project: Embedding simulation in clinical training in occupational therapy. RCT title "A multicentre randomised controlled trial with nested economic appraisal to investigate embedded simulation in occupational therapy clinical practice education".
  Year: 2015-2017
  Funded by: Australian Government, Department of Health
  Funds: $1,200,000
  Investigators: Professor Christine Imms, Dr Eli Mang Yee Chu, Mr Stephen Guinea, Dr. Loretta Sheppard, Dr. Elspeth Froude, Prof. Rob Carter , Dr. Susan Darzins, Dr Michael Otim, School of Allied Health

Accolades and Awards

• 2020 Awarded ACU Vice-Chancellor's Staff Excellence Award in the category "Spirit of Reconciliation".