Dr Cassy Dittman is the Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology) and a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences. She is a Research Fellow with the Manna Institute, and holds an Honorary Research Fellowship at the Parenting and Family Support Centre at The University of Queensland. Dr Dittman is also a member of the Cluster for Resilience and Wellbeing within the Appleton Institute.

Dr Dittman is a registered psychologist researching in the field of child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing. Her research focuses on the impact of parenting and parent-child relationships on children and adolescents. She has particular expertise in the field of evidence-based parenting programs and their capacity to promote mental health and wellbeing in children and parents. Dr Dittman’s research has had real-world impact in its evaluation of innovative ways to improve the reach and accessibility of evidence-based parenting programs by investigating the benefits of online programs and brief, targeted parenting support, as well as applying parenting programs in different contexts, such as junior sport and early childhood education.

Dr Dittman has co-developed two blended modality programs, the Positive Early Childhood Education (PECE) program and Play Well Triple P, which are now disseminated to parents and professionals through Triple P International. Her recent research includes positive parenting in junior sport (in partnership with the NRL), the influence of parent-adolescent relationships in the mental health of adolescents and emerging adults, and the development of adolescent-specific measures of adjustment, parenting, and the parent-adolescent relationship.