Lizz Carrington

Research

Family-centred care, supported self-management and innovative paediatric physiotherapy service delivery

My research focuses on family-centred care, supported self-mapagement, and innovative paediatric physiotherapy service delivery to support disabled children and empower their families. A central aim of this work is to understand how families (including whānau) can be meaningfully supported within health systems.

My work explores how family-centred care principles can be operationalised in paediatric physiotherapy, with particular attention to relationship-building, collaboration, and responsiveness to family needs. I am especially interested in play-based therapy as both a therapeutic approach and a method of engagement that supports participation, connection, and child- and family-led care.

A key strand of my research examines novel models of paediatric physiotherapy service delivery, recognising the organisational and systemic challenges that shape service provision in Aotearoa New Zealand. This includes exploring opportunities to better support families through enhanced access to community resources, strengthened interpersonal relationships between families and providers, and more integrated, supportive approaches to self-management.

Understanding family-centred care and play as a therapy

Collaborative and culturally safe paediatric physiotherapy care

This strand of my research focuses on collaborative care in paediatric physiotherapy, examining how meaningful relationships between health professionals, disabled children, and their families can enhance engagement, shared decision-making, and overall care experiences.

Central to this work is a commitment to the development of culturally safe healthcare environments for children, young people, and their families. This includes an emphasis on relationship-building, community engagement, and equity in service delivery, with particular attention to how services can better recognise and respond to the cultural contexts and priorities of families and whānau.

Relationship building and culturally safe environments for paediatric physiotherapy

Generative artificial intelligence in physiotherapy education

In addition to my clinical and service delivery research, I lead a programme of research focused on generative artificial intelligence (AI) in undergraduate physiotherapy education, situated alongside an interest in how evidence-based practice (EBP) is understood and taught within physiotherapy programmes.

This work explores undergraduate students’ understanding and interpretation of EBP and subsequently examines how AI-supported subjective assessment tools can be used to support the development of clinical reasoning, communication, and patient assessment skills. The emphasis is on using generative AI as a pedagogical support. Areas of interest include students’ perceptions and experiences of AI-supported learning, the role of AI in supporting reasoning and confidence during skill development, and the implications of AI use for assessment, feedback, and professional identity formation in physiotherapy education.