Researcher biography

A/Prof Whittingam is a leadin researcher at the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre within the UQ Child Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Medicine and a Psychologist with specializations in both Educational/Developmental and Clinical psychology. Her research spans three key areas: (1) parenting, transition to parenting, and parenting  intervention, (2) neurodevelopmental disabilities including autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury and prematurity and (3) acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and related therapies. She is especially passionate about the application of ACT to parenting.

A/Prof Whittingham has currently secured $4.6M in competitive research funding, including Cat1 funding as CI on NHMRC and MRFF grants and $1.45M as a CIA on an MRFF to trial a parenting support program with 300 families. 

A/Prof Whittingham’s research has had international reach with citations by from >80 countries and in 6 policy documents including WHO, the US CDC and UK NICE networks. She was instrumental demonstrating an evidence-base for Stepping Stones Triple P for specific disabilities (autism, CP, ABI), with 9,197 practitioners trained in Stepping Stones and an estimated 150,000 families have received the intervention to date. CI Whittingham is first author of the first RCT to demonstrate a specific intervention effect of ACT on parenting and there are now 11 RCTs and 9 systematic reviews of ACT as a parenting intervention with >250 citations as well as CI Whittingham’s parenting ACT intervention being incorporated into multiple international clinical trials.

She is 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.