Mehdi Rassafiani

Occupational Therapy

Associate Professor Mehdi Rassafiani

BSC, MSc, PhD in Occupational Therapy (OT)

Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy
Port Macquarie
Building 801

Associate Professor Mehdi Rassafiani undertook his Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (OT) from Iran University of Medical Sciences, Master of OT from the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, and PhD from the University of Queensland. He has been involved in teaching and research in the field of paediatric OT for about 30 years in various countries including Jordan, Iran, Kuwait and Australia.

Mehdi developed two training programs for parents with cerebral palsy (CP) called Training Special Care for Parent of Children with CP (TSCP) and Parent-to-Parent-Training programs. Mehdi believes that parents of children with disabilities have unique experiences that can share in their own language.

Mehdi has successfully supervised more than 50 Master’s and PhD students in their research projects and supported them in the process of their research including choosing and refining their topics, developing research proposals, designing quantitative studies, disseminating and knowledge translation of their results.

Mehdi has been teaching undergraduate and graduate students in various subjects such as paediatric OT, evidence-based practice, research methodology, and professional development. He has also been involved in curriculum development and assessment at national and international levels.

Mehdi is interested in training mothers and caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP). He developed a training program for mothers of children with CP called “Training Special Care for Parents of children with CP (TSCP) to reduce physical and psychological stresses on mothers and improve their children in self-care activities. Designing and developing survey questionnaires and developing and validating assessment tools for clinical and research purposes are other areas in which he has extensive experience.

Mehdi is currently collaborating with his colleagues in Australia, Iran and Kuwait aiming to validate and implement the “Healthy Mother Healthy Family” program in the Middle East that addresses the psychosocial needs of mothers with children with disabilities and then will integrate this into the TSCP program to further promote mothers and families with children with CP.

- World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT).

- Iranian Occupational Therapy Association (IROTA)