I am a Lecturer in Psychology based at the Bundaberg campus, where I teach in the area of developmental psychology (PSYC12010) and psychological testing and assessment (PSYC13020).
My research focuses on the prevention and treatment of behavioural problems in children and adolescents, with an emphasis on the impact of quality parenting on important developmental skills and outcomes, including positive development, physical activity and self-regulation. Recent research includes trials of online parenting support and brief, targeted parenting groups, alongside investigations into the parenting challenges and support needs of particular groups of parents, such as FIFO workers and parents of adolescents. Areas of current work include a partnership with the NRL to develop a new online induction program for parents of junior rugby league players to promote positive parental behaviour in the sporting context; ways to enhance the capacity of early childhood educators to promote children’s prosocial behaviour and reduce child behaviour problems; and the influence of strong parent-adolescent relationships in the positive development and mental health of young people. This latter research area includes the development of adolescent-specific measures of adolescent functioning, parenting, and the parent-adolescent relationship.
I have authored >20 publications in the area of parenting and child behaviour, and have presented or been a co-author on >30 conference presentations and invited addresses. I was awarded a UQ Early Career Researcher Award in 2013. I have an h-index of 11, and have been cited over 300 times in the past 5 years. I have also supervised 15 postgraduate research students to completion. My 2015 Masters student was awarded the APS College of Counselling Psychologists Award for Best Thesis. I am also a co-author on a new variant of Triple P, the Positive Early Childhood Education program, which uses blended modalities to train early childhood educators in behaviour modification strategies.
I received my PhD (Clinical Psychology) from The University of Queensland in the area of early reading development. I recently moved to CQU after 8 years as a Research Fellow and Head of Curriculum Development at the Parenting and Family Support Centre (PFSC) at The University of Queensland. The PFSC is the home of the internationally recognised Triple P – Positive Parenting Program system of interventions, which is disseminated in 26 countries in 20 languages. My role was to develop the parallel professional training curricula for practitioners working with families in each disseminated intervention program. I continue to collaborate with UQ researchers through my Honorary Research Fellow appointment.
I am currently accredited for supervision in the following:
At the level of Principal Supervisor
Psychology - Developmental Psychology and Ageing
Psychology - Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology