Dr Laine Chilman is a full-time Lecturer in Occupational Therapy. She is committed to research that enhances children's lives by supporting parents. She investigates occupational therapy and parenting interventions that promote child development and wellbeing, particularly in terms of child behaviour, play, picky eating, and the vital support systems necessary for optimal development. Specifically, her interest in understanding and mitigating the impact of picky eating on families fuelled her to uncover innovative solutions for healthcare practices, including supporting parents through occupational performance coaching. Laine's work emphasises her dedication to co-design with First Nation communities and a lived experience perspective, which enriches the research process.
Laine is versatile, with experience in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. She recognises that each methodology brings unique insights depending on the research context. Over her career, Laine has been invited to speak at national conferences and local research forums, receiving the Occupational Therapy Australia Postgraduate student award whilst completing her PhD.
As a researcher, Laine embodies her values of objectivity, honesty, and openness, fostering a compassionate approach to her work. Furthermore, Laine's commitment to teaching and mentoring the next generation of practitioners and researchers shines through in her emerging publication record and honours student supervision. Laine has worked as an occupational therapist and registered nurse both in Australia and England. She is passionate about student learning and understands the importance of linking theoretical knowledge with clinical practice.
Awards and Fellowships
- 2024 Vice-Chancellor and President’s Award for Excellence in Research Impact, Early Career Academic. Awarded by the University of the Sunshine Coast.
- 2024 UniSC Learning and Teaching Excellence Award: Innovation or Leadership in Learning and Teaching and/or Student Experience (team award)
- 2024 Endorsed Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) Trainer Awarded by the University of Otago
- 2022 Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
- 2021 Occupational Therapy Australia QLD Division Postgraduate Student Award
Professional Memberships
- Occupational Therapy Australia- including paediatric and coaching special interest groups
- Core member of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre (ITRC), UniSC
Professional Social Media
Research grants
|
Grant/Project name |
Investigators |
Funding body & A$ value |
Year(s) |
Focus (of research grant) |
| Perturbation training to improve falls risk, walking, motor symptoms and balance in Parkinson’s Disease: a proof-of-concept trial. |
Associate Professor Suzanne Broadbent |
UniSC Impact grant: $24,990 |
|
|
| Investigating associations between cognitive levels, occupation participation, sensory processing, and volition in adults diagnosed with psychosocial disability |
Dr Laine Chilman (OT) |
Internal grant scheme through UniSC Launch Partnership Grant: |
|
|
| Culturally Responsive Coaching Intervention for Paediatric Feeding Disorders: A Pilot RCT Informed by First Nations Perspectives |
Chilman, L., Frakking, T. |
UniSC SPARK Professional Development: $8,528. |
2024 |
Adapting OPC to support multi-cultural contexts |
|
Unlocking Precision Healthcare: Tailoring feeding disorder management for culturally diverse children to sustain improvements in health outcomes |
Chilman, L., Burritt, L., Grant, T., Frakking, T., Marozza, A., Graham, F. |
Prince Charles Hospital Foundation: $37,709.00
|
2024-2026 |
Culturally responsive Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC) for feeding clinics |
|
Occupational Performance Coaching: An Evidence-based Intervention for Priority Populations |
Chilman, L., Meredith, P., Burritt, L., & Dixson, B |
Internal grant scheme through UniSC Connect grant: $9,600 |
2023-2024 |
OPC from the perspectives of health professionals who support First Nations families |
|
Exploring factors to support culturally appropriate healthy feeding practices for Australian First Nations families with young children. |
Chilman, L., Meredith, P., Mudholkar, A., Wehnham, K. |
Internal grant scheme through UniSC Launch Partnership Grant: $25,350 |
2022-2023 |
Exploring First Nations' feeding practices, cultural influences and strengths |
Research areas
- Picky eating
- Occupational Performance Coaching
- Cross-cultural knowledges
- Knowledge and confidence of new graduate occupational therapists
- Social determinants of health and support children with low socioeconomic backgrounds
- Early childhood play and playgroups
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
- Parenting, feeding practices and family mealtimes
- End of Life care
- Psychosocial disability
Teaching areas
- OCC102 Participation in Occupation
- OCC201 Occupational Therapy Theory
- OCC202 Therapeutic Skills
- OCC212 Evaluation of Occupational Performance
- OCC222 Neurological Causes of Occupational Dysfunction
- OCC232 Foundational Placement Competencies in Allied Health
- OCC301 Enabling Occupation: The Child and Adolescent
- OCC312 Enabling Occupation: The Older Person
- OCC432 Occupational Therapy Innovation
- OCC442 Occupational Therapy Reasoning, Research & Evaluation (Project Pathway)
- OCC452 Occupational Therapy Reasoning, Research & Evaluation (Research Pathway)
Program coordinator
Dr Laine Chilman's specialist areas of knowledge encompass paediatric occupational therapy, focusing on childhood disordered eating, early childhood play, parenting and mealtimes, sharing of First Nations knowledges and occupational performance coaching.
In the news
Parents the key to tackling kids’ picky eating: research findings
29 AprFive years of UniSC-led research into the pesky problem of picky eating by children suggests that therapists should focus more on empowering parents to ease family angst at the dinner table
Picky eating research aims to help family mealtimes
16 Sep 2021New USC Australia research has identified the most common external factors likely to increase or decrease picky eating in children under 10