Contact Details
- Phone
- +64 21 223 3362
- rachelle.martin@otago.ac.nz
University Links
- Position
- Senior Lecturer
- Department
- Department of Medicine (Wellington)
- Qualifications
- DipPhys MHSc PhD
- Research summary
- Supporting disabled people to access equitable health-optimising services, programmes and policies
- Teaching
Lecturer, Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit (RTRU), Department of Medicine Wellington.
Rachelle teaches general rehabilitation and neurological rehabilitation papers and provides supervision to masters' and PhD students.
- Memberships
- President, New Zealand Rehabilitation Association (NZRA)
- Physiotherapy New Zealand - Associate Editor of the NZ Physiotherapy Journal
- Clinical
- Rachelle’s clinical background (over 20 years) is working as a physiotherapist in hospital and community settings, mostly alongside people with neurological impairments, and their whānau.
Research
Rachelle is passionate about ensuring people who experience disability or live with the enduring consequences of health conditions are able to live the lives they want to live. Her research is, therefore, focused on developing equitable rehabilitation and health-optimising programmes and services for disabled people (including tāngata whaikaha Māori) or those living with long-term health conditions.
Her research is focused on four main areas:
- Co-designing services and supports that better meet disabled people’s needs and aspirations
- Evaluating interventions and programmes to support the achievement of equitable access, experience and outcomes
- Interrogating the intersection between health care provider attitudes and behaviours and the responses of people they are providing services to
- Conducting research to creating a more enabling society
She loves collaborating with others within participatory research and co-design projects, listening with curiosity to the ways that people want to engage with health services, and meaningfully participate in activities and life roles that matter most to them.
She uses innovative research methods to determine the effectiveness of complex programme, services and interventions. Rachelle often uses realist review, research or evaluation methods to unpack the ‘black box’ of complex programmes by developing theoretically-based understandings of ‘what works for who, in which contexts, to what extent, and how?’. However, she has diverse research skills, including qualitative, single-case experimental design, process and outcome evaluation, and literature review and synthesis methods, which she routinely uses and teaches within her research practice.
Rachelle also works to ensure that the way research is conducted, and the ways that findings are communicated, optimise the use of new knowledge within services – ensuring that the experiences and self-prioritised health outcomes of individuals accessing these services are effectively facilitated.
Publications
Layton, N., Martin, R. A., Bourke, J. A., & Kayes, N. M. (2024). Structures of oppression or inclusion: What systemic factors impact inclusion in disability and rehabilitation research? Social Sciences, 13(5), 229. doi: 10.3390/socsci13050229 Journal - Research Article
Martin, R. A., Johns, J. K., Hackney, J. J., Bourke, J. A., Young, T. J., Nunnerley, J. L., Snell, D. L., Derrett, S., & Dunn, J. A. (2023). Early opportunities to explore occupational identity change: Qualitative study of return-to-work experiences after stroke. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 55, jrm00363. doi: 10.2340/jrm.v55.4825 Journal - Research Article
Martin, R. A., Baker, A. P., Smiler, K., Middleton, L., Hay-Smith, J., Kayes, N., … Nunnerley, J. L., & Brown, A. E. (2022). Flourishing together: research protocol for developing methods to better include disabled people’s knowledge in health policy development. BMC Health Services Research, 22, 1252. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08655-2 Journal - Research Other
Dunn, J. A., Hackney, J. J., Martin, R. A., Tietjens, D., Young, T., Bourke, J. A., Snell, D. L., Nunnerley, J. L., … Derrett, S. (2021). Development of a programme theory for early intervention vocational rehabilitation: A realist literature review. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 31, 730-743. doi: 10.1007/s10926-021-10000-z Journal - Research Article
Kayes, N. M., Martin, R. A., Bright, F. A., Kersten, P., & Pollock, A. (2019). Optimising the real-world impact of rehabilitation reviews: Increasing the relevance and usability of systematic reviews in rehabilitation. European Journal of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine, 55(3), 331-341. doi: 10.23736/s1973-9087.19.05793-9 Journal - Research Article