Julia Sterman
julia sterman

Dr Julia Sterman OTR/L, PhD

Lecturer

Biography

Julia is interested in ways to increase choice, control, and well-being for people with disabilities, especially children, through changing environments rather than changing people. Her work is primarily qualitative, and seeks to amplify the voices of underrepresented groups. Her current research includes:
-Creating a family-centred emergency preparedness tool
-Experiences of families of children with disabilities during COVID-19
-Using Autistic adult perspectives to inform occupational therapy practice for Autistic children
-Identifying ways for occupational therapy practitioners, educators, and the profession as a whole to be anti-racist

Julia uses active pedagogical approaches in her teaching to support students to be engaged in learning. She aims to be inclusive to her teaching to support a diverse future occupational therapy workforce.

She has taught courses related to qualitative research, paediatrics, occupational therapy foundational topics, and contemporary practice issues in occupational therapy

Date


20 results

Autistic adult perspectives on occupational therapy for Autistic children and youth

Journal Article
Sterman, J., Gustafson, E., Eisenmenger, L., Hamm, L., & Edwards, J. (in press)
Autistic adult perspectives on occupational therapy for Autistic children and youth. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, https://doi.org/10.1177/15394492221103850
The Autistic community values neurodiversity-positive approaches rather than behavioral interventions for Autistic children; however, little is known about what that would loo...

Anti-racism and Occupational Therapy Education: Beyond Diversity and Inclusion

Journal Article
Sterman, J., Njelesani, J., & Carr, S. (2022)
Anti-racism and Occupational Therapy Education: Beyond Diversity and Inclusion. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 6(1), https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2022.060103
There is a pressing need to address racism within healthcare education; however, occupational therapy educators lack a compilation of discipline-specific knowledge of anti-rac...

Becoming Anti-Racist Occupational Therapy Practitioners: A Scoping Study

Journal Article
Sterman, J., & Njelesani, J. (2021)
Becoming Anti-Racist Occupational Therapy Practitioners: A Scoping Study. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, 41(4), 232-242. https://doi.org/10.1177/15394492211019931
The ongoing racism pandemic in the United States negatively impacts the health, safety, and occupations of Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color. Although occupational the...

Family-centered planning: Preparing before an emergency

Other
Sterman, J. (2021)
Family-centered planning: Preparing before an emergency

Parents’ perspectives on managing risk in play for children with developmental disabilities

Journal Article
Stillianesis, S., Spencer, G., Villeneuve, M., Sterman, J., Bundy, A., Wyver, S., …Beetham, K. S. (2022)
Parents’ perspectives on managing risk in play for children with developmental disabilities. Disability and Society, 37(8), 1272-1292. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2021.1874298
Parents are often concerned about managing risks for their children, particularly in the context of disability. This paper reports qualitative findings from an intervention st...

Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities

Journal Article
Grady-Dominguez, P., Ragen, J., Sterman, J., Spencer, G., Tranter, P., Villeneuve, M., & Bundy, A. (2021)
Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(3), https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031008
Risky play is challenging, exciting play with the possibility of physical, social, or emotional harm. Through risky play, children learn, develop, and experience wellbeing. Ch...

Reframing risk: Working with caregivers of children with disabilities to promote risk-taking in play

Book Chapter
Grady-Dominguez, P., Ihrig, K., Lane, S. J., Aberle, J., Beetham, K., Ragen, J., …Bundy, A. (2020)
Reframing risk: Working with caregivers of children with disabilities to promote risk-taking in play. In S. Hepburn (Ed.), Family-Focused Interventions (1-45). Cambridge, MA: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irrdd.2020.09.001
Risky play is invigorating, challenging play with uncertain outcomes that optimizes children's development, health, and everyday well-being and creates opportunities to develo...

School Playground Intervention for Children With Disabilities Creates Play Capabilities and Shifts Adult Perspectives

Journal Article
Sterman, J., Villeneuve, M., Bundy, A., & Wyver, S. (2020)
School Playground Intervention for Children With Disabilities Creates Play Capabilities and Shifts Adult Perspectives. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(4_Supplement_1), 7411515445p1. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2020.74s1-po8122
Five schools participated in the Sydney Playground Project to increase choice, control, and inclusion of students with disabilities on the school playground. The intervention ...

Enablers of Emergency Preparedness for People With Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions: A Scoping Review

Presentation / Conference
Sterman, J., & Villeneuve, M. (2020, March)
Enablers of Emergency Preparedness for People With Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions: A Scoping Review. Poster presented at AOTA Annual Conference & Expo, Boston, Massachusetts
This scoping review identified that people with disabilities require capability-focused knowledge networks, actions, and advocacy to enable emergency preparedness. OTs are uni...

Creating play opportunities on the school playground: Educator experiences of the Sydney playground project

Journal Article
Sterman, J., Villeneuve, M., Spencer, G., Wyver, S., Beetham, K. S., Naughton, G., …Bundy, A. (2020)
Creating play opportunities on the school playground: Educator experiences of the Sydney playground project. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 67(1), 62-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1630.12624
Introduction Children with disabilities often experience unsupportive environments that restrict their play opportunities and inclusion on the school playground. This exclusio...

Current Post Grad projects