Researcher

Ms Catherine (Cate) Hilly

Lecturer in Occupational Therapy (Professional Practice Coordinator)
Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Allied Health

Areas of expertise: child and family occupational therapy services; fetal alcohol spectrum disorder; student-led occupational therapy services

Phone: 02 62091189

Email: Catherine.hilly@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Canberra Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Not accredited/Not applicable

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3586-2458

Cate Hilly is a lecturer and professional placement coordinator in occupational therapy at ACU in Canberra. Cate also works part-time clinically in a paediatric multidisciplinary service. She has worked as a paediatric occupational therapist for over 20 years. She has previously worked in academic roles at the University of the Sunshine Coast and University of Canberra. Cate's research interests include developing student competence through clinical education; team teaching models, health and development promotion in early childhood public health. She is undertaking a PhD investigating the application of Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance ApproachTM (CO-OP) with children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Select publications

• Ramke, J., Hilly, C., McKechnie, J., Kish, A., & Davey, R. (2025). Allied health utilisation in early childhood settings: a reflective case study on providing occupational therapy and speech language pathology support. Journal of Children and Young People's Health. https://doi.org/10.33235/jcyph.6.1.22-30

• Hilly, C., Wilson, P. H., Lucas, B., McGuckian, T. B., Swanton, R., & Froude, E. H. (2024). Effectiveness of interventions for school-aged-children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Disability and Rehabilitation, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2023.2207043

• Simoncini, K., McKechnie, J., Hilly, C., & Matthews, B. (2024). Helping Parents Support Their Preschool Children's Learning and Development Through SMS Messages: An Australian Pilot Study. Early Childhood Education Journal, 52(8), 1853-1867. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01525-4

• Ramke, J., Giugni, S., Kish, A., Hilly, C., McKechnie, J., Herbert, J., & Davey. R. (2024). A reflective case study examining the Family and Community Liaison Coordinator (FCLC) role in early childhood development. Journal of Children and Young People's Health, 5(1), 17-23. https://doi.org/10.33235/jcyph.5.1.17-23

• Bacon, R., Hopkins, S., Georgousopoulou, E., Nahon, I., Hilly, C., Millar, C., Flynn, A., Smillie, L., Chapman, S., & Brown, N. (2023). While allied health students prefer face-to-face clinical placement, telehealth can support competency development: results from a mixed-methods study. Frontiers in Medicine, 10, Article 1151980. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1151980

Projects

• 2026-2028 - Royal Far West funded project: The evaluation of the Bouke Early Intervention Collaboration Project. $130,000. Partnership with University of Canberra

• 2021 - current - Feasibility of Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder $13,983. Funded by Occupational Therapy Research Foundation Direct Gift Recipient and Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship doi.org/10.82133/C42F-K220.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Registered Occupational Therapist AHPRA

• Member of Occupational Therapy Australia

• Member of the International Society of Research and Advocacy for Developmental Coordination Disorder

• Member of Professionals & Researchers in Early Childhood Intervention

• Honorary Fellow (School of Psychological Science), University of Western Australia (April 2022 to current)