Dr Rachelle Martin

Dip Phys(Otago), MHSc(Otago), PhD(Otago)

Email rachelle.martin@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 21 223 3362

Rachelle works as a Lecturer with the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit (RTRU) at the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington.

Rachelle is a physiotherapist who has completed her Master of Health Science (endorsed in rehabilitation) in 2014, and her PhD in 2018. Both of these programmes of study were undertaken at the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit (RTRU), School of Medicine, University of Otago Wellington. Her Master's research study explored life goals and social identity in people with severe acquired brain injury. Findings from this study suggested that there is a need to focus on the role of social identity and the environment in the delivery of person-centred rehabilitation services for people with ABI, including developing theoretical frameworks and interventions that better support people concerning social relationships and social identity throughout their lives. Rachelle’s PhD research used both qualitative and quantitative methods within a critical realist framework to examine the health outcomes that are important to child riders within a therapeutic horse riding programme, along with how effectively New Zealand Riding for the Disabled (NZRDA) was achieving these outcomes. Findings suggested that therapeutic horse riding is an accessible activity that improves social participation outcomes for children experiencing disability, regardless of their diagnosis.

Rachelle has worked clinically in the area of acquired brain injury in acute and community rehabilitation settings. A focus on outcomes that are considered important by the users of rehabilitation services is of ongoing interest to Rachelle, and she researches how people who experience disability can be supported to live a good life despite ongoing impairments. This research has included evaluating how well an Active Support model of care supported people to live the life they wanted within a residential supported-care setting, and investigating health outcomes of people following mild traumatic brain injury to understand why some people recover more quickly and completely than others after concussion. Rachelle also maintains a focus on outcomes that are considered important by users of rehabilitation services through her involvement in research and knowledge translation activities conducted by the Burwood Academy of Independent Living (BAIL).

Rachelle's current range of research interests and projects include:

• Evaluating the effectiveness of complex rehabilitation interventions, and the use of realist research approaches which seek to understand better ‘what works for which people, in what contexts, to what extent, and how'?
• Single case experimental designs (SCEDs) to determine the effectiveness of interventions while also maintaining a focus on the range of individual responses
• Research on health outcomes and rehabilitation service provision prioritised by consumers
• Communicating research findings in a way that allows clinicians to integrate this knowledge into their practice

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Publications