Matthew D Jennings

South Western Sydney Local Health District | SWSLHD · Department of Physiotherapy

Introduction Chronic disease is a leading cause of death and disability that disproportionately burdens culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Self-management is a cornerstone of effective chronic disease management. However, research suggests that patients from CALD communities may be less likely to engage with self-management a...

Background Culturally diverse communities face barriers managing chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions including navigation challenges, sub-optimal healthcare provider engagement and difficulty adopting self-management behaviours. Objectives To explore the feasibility and trends of effectiveness of implementing a cultural mentoring program along...

Allied health clinical placements take place within an increasingly overstretched health care system where demand for services often exceeds availability of resources. Within this environment, student placements are often perceived as an additional burden to an already overwhelmed workforce. This study explored whether the quality of patient care w...

Introduction: The REFORM (REhabilitation FOR Musculoskeletal conditions) trial is a non-inferiority randomised controlled trial (n=210) designed to determine whether a supported home exercise programme is as good or better than a course of face-to-face physiotherapy for the management of some musculoskeletal conditions. The trial is currently bein...

Background Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for chronic disease. Brief physical activity counselling delivered within healthcare systems has been shown to increase physical activity levels; however, implementation efforts have mostly targeted primary healthcare and uptake has been sub-optimal. The Brief Physical Activity Counselling by...

Background There is currently little evidence of planning for real-world implementation of physical activity interventions. We are undertaking the ComeBACK (Coaching and Exercise for Better Walking) study, a 3-arm hybrid Type 1 randomised controlled trial evaluating a health coaching intervention and a text messaging intervention. We used an implem...

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, skills and barriers to evidence-based practice and the impact of evidence-based practice training for physical therapy clinicians. Methods: Physical therapists from a health district in Sydney, Australia were invited to participate. The primary outcome was the Assessing Competency in Evidence-based Medicine...

Background Although many people with chronic low back pain (LBP) improve following conservative treatment, one in five will experience worsening symptoms after discharge from treatment and seek health care again. The current LBP clinical care pathway in many health services lacks a well-integrated, systematic approach to support patients to remain...

Introduction Exercise, support and advice are considered core components of management for most musculoskeletal conditions and are typically provided by physiotherapists through regular face-to-face treatments. However, exercise can be provided remotely as part of a home exercise programme, while support and advice can be provided over the telephon...

Physical activity counselling has demonstrated effectiveness at increasing physical activity when delivered in healthcare, but is not routinely practised. This study aimed to determine (1) current use of physical activity counselling by physiotherapists working within publicly funded hospitals; and (2) influences on this behaviour. A cross-sectiona...

Objective: This study explored factors that underpin decisions to seek emergency department (ED) care for chronic non-cancer pain in patients identifying as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) or Australian-born. Design and methods: A mixed-methods study underpinned by The Behavioural Model of Health Services Use conceptual framework. C...

Introduction: Mobility limitation is common and often results from neurological and musculoskeletal health conditions, ageing and/or physical inactivity. In consultation with consumers, clinicians and policymakers, we have developed two affordable and scalable intervention packages designed to enhance physical activity for adults with self-reporte...

Introduction Clinical placements are central to the process of preparing future health professionals for practice. Healthcare environments are increasingly complex and demanding with clinical placements often being perceived as a burden on busy health professionals giving rise to a service‐education tension. This tension creates a situation ripe fo...

Background and objective Hospital readmissions within 30 days are used as an indicator of quality of hospital care. We aimed to evaluate the ability of the LACE (Length of stay, Acuity of admission, Comorbidities based on Charlson comorbidity score and number of Emergency visits in the last 6 months) index to predict the risk of 30-day readmissions...

Background Low back pain is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal conditions and the highest contributor to disability in the world. It is characterized by frequent relapses leading to additional care-seeking. Engagement in leisure physical activity is associated with lower recurrences and better prognosis and potentially reduced care-seeking....

Background and objective: Patients hospitalized for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have a high 30-day hospital readmission rate, which has a large impact on the health care system and patients' quality of life. The use of a prediction model to quantify a patient's risk of readmission may assist in directing inte...

Objective: To develop a globally informed framework to evaluate readiness for implementation and success after implementation of musculoskeletal models of care (MOCs). Methods: Three phases were undertaken: 1) a qualitative study with 27 Australian subject matter experts (SMEs) to develop a draft framework; 2) an eDelphi study with an internatio...

Background: It is well recognised that low back pain is a significant public health problem and engagement in moderate levels of physical activity is associated with positive outcomes. Conservative active care, such as exercise, is effective in reducing pain and disability associated with chronic low back pain. However, a rapid decline in clinical...

Background: The prevalence and impact of musculoskeletal conditions are predicted to rapidly escalate in the coming decades. Effective strategies are required to minimise 'evidence-practice', 'burden-policy' and 'burden-service' gaps and optimise health system responsiveness for sustainable, best-practice healthcare. One mechanism by which evidenc...

Background The objective of this study was to evaluate the evidence for different interventions in the preoperative, perioperative and post-operative care for people undergoing elective total hip (THR) and knee (TKR) replacement surgery. MethodA multidisciplinary working group comprising consumers, managers and clinicians from the areas of orthopae...

The evidence that exercise intervention is effective for treatment of chronic low back pain comes from trials that are not placebo-controlled. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of motor control exercise for people with chronic low back pain. This was a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The study was conducted in an outpa...

Practice guidelines recommend various types of exercise and manipulative therapy for chronic back pain but there have been few head-to-head comparisons of these interventions. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare effects of general exercise, motor control exercise and manipulative therapy on function and perceived effect of interve...