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Contact Details

Phone
+64 4 385 5357
Email
meredith.perry@otago.ac.nz
Position
Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Postgraduate Studies
Qualifications
BPhty MManipTh(Distinction) PhD
Research summary
Disability and long term conditions, equity, self-management, physical activity, green spaces, IPE
Teaching
  • Undergraduate: Physical activity, Musculoskeletal physiotherapy, Equity, Clinical education, Research & research methods
  • Postgraduate: PHTY501 Biomedical Science in Physiotherapy
  • Thesis supervision: Honours, Master’s, and PhD research
Memberships

International:

  • ISPAH International Society For Physical Activity And Health
  • WCPT World Confederation of Physical Therapists Network for Health Promotion in Life & Work

National:

  • Collaboration of Ageing Research Excellence (CARE) Theme Executive Committee
  • Wellington Inter-Professional Teaching Initiative (WITI)
  • Professional Practice Committee Co-Chair - Physiotherapy New Zealand
  • New Zealand Pain Society
  • Physiotherapy New Zealand Special Interest Groups (Older Adult, Paediatric, Neurology, Manipulative Physiotherapist)
Clinical
Clinical education in primary and secondary care one day a week

Research

Meredith is a physiotherapist and experienced qualitative and quantitative researcher who has an interest in long term conditions and disability. She researches concepts such as person-centred care and the therapeutic relationship required for enabling self-management (of which physical activity is one component). Her work also considers and explores co-produced solutions for challenging societal and political discourse which enables health system inequities via systemic racism or biases and inaccessible services, resources and environments.

The major programmes of research she is currently working in are:

  1. Parks for Activity and Recreation in our Communities (PARCs) includes research projects exploring accessible urban parks, playgrounds and green space for people of all ages and abilities in New Zealand (PARCs). It also includes projects exploring health professionals’ acknowledgment and confidence with places and spaces as part of a co-designed rehabilitation and management strategy.
    Parks for Activity and Recreation in the Community Study
  2. Health Professionals’ knowledge and understanding of disability concepts includes projects exploring pre-registration and registered health professionals’ attitudes towards disability and disabled people, as well as their knowledge and understanding of disability models and frameworks. The intent of this work is to develop a pre-registration inter-professional curriculum promoting experiential learning of disability concepts, designed and taught by people with lived experience of disability.
  3. Respiratory service provision for people with Neuromuscular disease includes projects looking at the access to and timely delivery of respiratory services (e.g. non-invasive ventilation and exhalation support) for people with progressive neuromuscular disease (NMD).

Additional details

Peer recognition:

  • Named co-investigator on two current HRC Project Grants
    • Co-creation and piloting of a digital self-help intervention (iSelf-help) for persistent pain
    • Te Ao Mārama: Disability perspectives of tāngata whaikaha Māori
  • Outstanding contribution to COVID-19 response, Disability directorate, Ministry of Health, New Zealand
  • Member Emeritus of the Wellington Branch of Physiotherapy New Zealand

Editorial Boards:

  • Associate Editor of the New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy

Appointments:

  • Physiotherapy New Zealand 2020 Conference Academic Chair
  • Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand Re-certification Working Group
  • Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand Clinical Competence Reviewer

Publications

Hale, L., Perry, M., Gray, A. R., Leung, W., Dean, S. G., Hempel, D., Davies, C., Dowell, A., Grainger, R., Ingham, T., Jones, B., Saipe, B., Dassanayake, S., & Devan, H. (2025). A group-based, online-delivered pain management programme (iSelf-help) is not inferior to a group-based, in-person programme in reducing pain-related disability for people with persistent pain: A non-inferiority randomised, two-arm, parallel, open-label trial. Journal of Pain, 32, 105447. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105447 Journal - Research Article

Watson, G., Rodger, R., Buhler, M., Tofi, U., Gauld, R., & Perry, M. A. (2025). Strategies that impact the workforce retention of physiotherapists and other allied health professionals: A scoping review. European Journal of Physiotherapy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/21679169.2025.2469108 Journal - Research Other

Buhler, M., Shah, T., Perry, M., Kruger, E., Tennant, M., & Milosavljevic, S. (2024). Geographic disparities in physiotherapy accessibility for priority populations in New Zealand. Proceedings of the 13th Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ) Conference. 81. Retrieved from https://www.hsraanz.org/ Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Blaschke, P., Pedersen Zari, M., Chapman, R., Randal, E., Perry, M., Howden-Chapman, P., & Gyde, E. (2024). Multiple roles of green space in the resilience, sustainability and equity of Aotearoa New Zealand’s cities. Land, 13, 1022. doi: 10.3390/land13071022 Journal - Research Other

Buhler, M., Shah, T., Perry, M., Tennant, M., Kruger, E., & Milosavljevic, S. (2024). Geographic accessibility to physiotherapy care in Aotearoa New Zealand. Spatial & Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 49, 100656. doi: 10.1016/j.sste.2024.100656 Journal - Research Article

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