Dr Koa Whittingham

Senior Research Fellow

Child Health Research Centre
Faculty of Medicine
koawhittingham@uq.edu.au
+61 7 344 36398

Overview

I am a senior research fellow at the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre within the UQ Child Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Medicine. My research spans three key areas: (1) parenting, transition to parenting, and parenting intervention, (2) neurodevelopmental disabilities including autism spectrum conditions, cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury and prematurity and (3) acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and related therapies. I am especially passionate about the application of ACT to parenting. I am the author of Becoming Mum, a self-help book for the transition to motherhood grounded in ACT and the first author of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy the Clinician's Guide for Supporting Parents.

Research Interests

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
    Particularly the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to enhance parenting, the parent-child relationship or parental adjustment
  • Mindfulness
    Particularly the use of mindfulness to enhance parenting, the parent-child relationship or parental adjustment
  • Neurodevelopmental Disabilities
    Autism Spectrum Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Acquired Brain Injury, infants at risk of neurodevelopmental disability including due to prematurity
  • Parenting
    Parenting, parent-child relationships, parenting interventions, the transition to parenthood, parent-infant sleep

Research Impacts

I am the author of Becoming Mum, a self-help book for the transition to motherhood grounded in ACT and the first author of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy the Clinician's Guide for Supporting Parents. I have an interest in developing online interventions using the platform EdX.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland

Publications

  • Whittingham, Koa, Benfer, Kath, Sakzewski, Leanne, Wotherspoon, Jane, Burgess, Andrea, Comans, Tracy, Keramat, Syed Afoz, Ware, Robert S. and Boyd, Roslyn N. (2024). Sleep problems in a population-based cohort of primary school age children with Cerebral Palsy. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 147 104690, 104690. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104690

  • Benfer, Katherine A., Whittingham, Koa, Ware, Robert S., Ghosh, Asis Kumar, Chowdhury, Sayak, Moula, Golam, Samanta, Sandip, Khan, Naila Zaman, Bell, Kristie L., Oftedal, Stina, Bandaranayake, Sasaka, Salt, Alison T., Bhattacharya, Anjan, Maiti, Pradip, Tripathi, Santanu K., Morgan, Cathy, Novak, Iona and Boyd, Roslyn N. (2024). Efficacy of Early Intervention for Infants With Cerebral Palsy in an LMIC: An RCT. Pediatrics, 153 (4) e2023063854. doi: 10.1542/peds.2023-063854

  • Kwong, Amanda KL., Eeles, Abbey, Anderson, Peter J., Badawi, Nadia, Boyd, Roslyn N., Cameron, Kate L., Cheong, Jeanie, Colditz, Paul, Koorts, Pieter, Crowle, Cathryn, Dale, Russell C., Doyle, Lex W., Fahey, Michael, George, Joanne, Hunt, Rod W., McNamara, Lynda, Morgan, Catherine, Novak, Iona, Olsen, Joy E., Reid, Nadia, Rieger, Ingrid, Whittingham, Koa and Spittle, Alicia J. (2024). The Knowledge Translation of Early Cerebral Palsy (KiTE CP) Study: Implementing Screening among a High-risk Prospective Cohort of Australian infants. The Journal of Pediatrics, 268 113949, 113949. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2024.113949

View all Publications

Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Sofronoff, Kate, Whittingham, Koa and Brown, Felicity L. (2018). Children with developmental disorders. Handbook of parenting and child development across the lifespan. (pp. 313-334) edited by Matthew R. Sanders and Alina Morawska. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-94598-9_14

  • Whittingham, K. and Douglas, P. (2016). "Possums": building contextual behavioural science into an innovative evidence-based approach to parenting support in early life. Psychotherapy in parenthood and beyond: personal enrichment in our lives. (pp. 43-56) edited by Bruce Kirkcaldy. Turin, Italy: Edizioni Minerva Medica.

  • Jones, Laura Backen, Whittingham, Koa, Coyne, Lisa and Lightcap, April (2016). A contextual behavioral science approach to parenting intervention and research. The Wiley handbook of contextual behavioral science. (pp. 398-421) edited by Robert D. Zettle , Steven C. Hayes , Dermot Barnes‐Holmes and Anthony Biglan. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781118489857.ch20

  • Whittingham, Koa (2016). Mindfulness and transformative parenting. Mindfulness and Buddhist-derived approaches in mental health and addiction. (pp. 363-390) edited by Edo Shonin, William Van Gordon and Mark D. Griffiths. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-22255-4_18

  • Sofronoff, K. V. and Whittingham, K. (2007). Parent management training to improve competence in parents of children with Aspergers syndrome. Handbook of Parent training: Helping parents prevent and solve problem behaviours. (pp. 107-128) edited by J. Briesmeister and C.E. Schaefer. United States: John Wiley & Sons.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Boyd, Roslyn, Sakzewski, Leanne, Novak, Iona, Greaves, Susan, Wallen, Margaret, Morgan, Catherine, Badawi, Nadia, Elliott, Catherine, Heathcock, Jill, Eliasson, Ann-Christian, Maitre, Natalie, Whittingham, Koa N. and Ware, Robert (2023). REACH: Randomised trial of rehabilitation very EArly in congenital hemiplegia.. American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine,, Chicago, IL, United States, 10-13 September 2023. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Whittingham, K., Benfer, K., Leishman, S., Sakzewski, L. and Boyd, R. (2022). Disordered sleep in a population-based cohort of primary school age children with cerebral palsy. Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and the International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1-5 March 2022. Chichester, West Sussex United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Whittingham, K., Benfer, K., Leishman, S., Sakzewski, L. and Boyd, R. (2022). Predictors of parental psychological adjustment in a cohort of parents of children (aged 8–12 years) with cerebral palsy. Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and the International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1-5 March 2022. Chichester, West Sussex United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Barfoot, J., Meredith, P., Ziviani, J. and Whittingham, K. (2016). Parent-child interactions and cerebral palsy: an exploratory study. 2016 IASSIDD World Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 14-19 August 2016. Chichester, West Sussex United Kingdom: WILEY-BLACKWELL.

  • Bodimeade, H., Whittingham, K., Boyd, R. and Lloyd, O. (2012). Executive functioning in children and adolescents with congenital hemiplegia. 12th International Child Neurology Congress and the 11th Asian and Oceanian Congress of Child Neurology, Brisbane Australia, 27 May-1 June 2012. Oxford, United Kingdom: Wiley - Blackwell Publishing.

  • Wee, Diana, Whittingham, Koa, Sanders, Matthew and Boyd, Roslyn (2010). Parenting experiences and coping strategies of parents of children with cerebral palsy. Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Biennial Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 3-6 March 2010. Oxford, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Wee, Diana, Whittingham, Koa, Sanders, Matthew, McKinlay, Lynne and Boyd, Roslyn (2010). Parenting intervention: Acceptability of Stepping Stones Triple P with parents of children with cerebral palsy. Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Biennial Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 3-6 March 2010. Oxford, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision