Abstracts of the Rehabilitation and Therapy Research Society Eighth Annual Conference

Abstract

The eighth Annual Conference of the Rehabilitation and Therapy Research Society (RTRS) was held on Friday, 25 May 2012, hosted by the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science at the University of Dublin. The society provides a forum for the dissemination of current research within the three professions of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech and language therapy across the island of Ireland.The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Promoting Health and Wellbeing across the Lifespan’. Keynote speaker Professor Elizabeth Dean, University of British Columbia, highlighted the need for focussed attention on maintaining and reversing chronic lifestyle-related conditions, and Professor Virpi Timonen, Trinity College Dublin, presented research data on trends in ageing and challenges for the provision of care for older people in Ireland. Invited speakers, oral and poster presentations highlighted the diversity of current, clinically relevant research within the three professions from BSc to PhD and post-doctoral level. This year, in addition to research abstracts, the society sought abstract submissions that reflected clinical practice and service development innovations across the three professions. All abstracts underwent a blind review process and the RTRS committee sought clarification that all research studies had ethics committee approval and service development abstracts had approval as appropriate.The society looks forward to continued support from researchers within the three professions and the ongoing development of the society’s role in fostering the dissemination of therapy research within Ireland through the hosting of our annual conference. Updates on the society are available on our website www.rtrs.org