Research
Soph’s research reflects a commitment to advancing understanding and care for individuals living with chronic pain, fatigue, and complex health conditions. She takes a critical, transdisciplinary, and systems-informed approach, and is not afraid to challenge the status quo and taken for granted assumptions of current policy, research and practice. In doing so, new perspectives and innovative insights can more readily emerge, helping to find new, person centered ways forward to better address complex health challenges.
Her published works and research activity span a diverse range of topics, including pain management, rural health equity, critical social theory, interprofessional practice and post-professionalism, psychologically informed practice, suicide prevention, and neurodivergence. Despite how seemingly different these topics may appear, all stem from Soph’s core motivation to advance access to compassionate, effective, equitable health care for all.
As a current PhD Candidate at Charles Sturt University, Soph is exploring pain management in rural Australia, through a critical lens of rural spatial justice and health equity. She is interested in unpacking and challenging the assumptions, perceptions, and power dynamics that influence effective pain management in rural Australia and perpetuate ongoing inequities in healthcare access in under-served communities.
Publications
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5810-9784
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2024
McGrath, R. L., Parnell, T., Shephard, S., Verdon, S., & Pope, R. (2024). Physiotherapists often encounter clients disclosing suicidal thoughts and behaviors: a cross-sectional survey of Australian physiotherapists. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 1-15. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2024.2327516
Dahlenburg, K., Spuur, K., Shephard, S., & Perez, W. F. P. (2024). Pain knowledge and education among Australian radiographers: where are we, and where to from here? Abstract from Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Conference 2024, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Shephard, S., Dahlenburg, K., & Kilgour, A. (2024). Drawing on lessons learnt in allied health & medicine: exploring pain science in radiography practice. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 55(3), 1-6. Article 101343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmir.2023.11.003
McGrath, R., Shephard, S., & Chen, Y.-T. (2024). The need for transformational change in social justice–informed physiotherapy. Physiotherapy Canada, 241-243. https://doi.org/10.3138/ptc-2022-0108
2023
McGrath, R. L., Shephard, S., Parnell, T., Verdon, S., & Pope, R. (2023). Recommended approaches to assessing and managing physiotherapy clients experiencing psychological distress: A systematic mapping review. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2023.2284823
Shephard, S., Kennedy, D., Gardner, T., & Skinner, I. (2023). “It’s complex” – the challenges and opportunities for physiotherapists who work with chronic pain patients. 346. Abstract from IGNITE Physiotherapy Conference 2023, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. https://ignite2023.physio/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Ignite2023_Abstract_book_V5.pdf
McGrath, R., Shephard, S., Parnell, T., Verdon, S., & Pope, R. (2023). Navigating patient distress in physiotherapy practice. 343. Abstract from IGNITE Physiotherapy Conference 2023, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. https://ignite2023.physio/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Ignite2023_Abstract_book_V5.pdf
McGrath, R., Shephard, S., Berrick, A., Parnell, T., Verdon, S., & Pope, R. (2023). On “Physical Therapy and Mental Health: A Scoping Review.” Heywood SE, Connaughton J, Kinsella R, Black S, Bicchi N, Setchell J. Phys Ther. 2022;102:pzac102. Physical Therapy, 103(2), 1-2. Article pzac163. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzac163
Shephard, S., & Dahlenburg, K. (2023). Highlighting a gap in radiographers’ pain knowledge: A letter to the editor on ‘Radiographers’ decision-making processes in the movement of pain-afflicted adult trauma patients in planar diagnostic imaging’. Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences, 70(3), 351-352. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmrs.692
Shephard, S., Dahlenburg, K., & Neep, M. (2023). Seeing the bigger picture: Embracing modern pain science to enhance care in the imaging department. 48-49. Abstract from ASMIRT 2023 Conference, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jmrs.664
McGrath, R. L., Shephard, S., Hemmings, L., Verdon, S., & Parnell, T. (2023). Preventing suicide: Time to mobilize the physical therapist workforce. Physical Therapy, 103(11), Article pzad116. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzad116
2022
McGrath, R., Shephard, S., Berrick, A., Parnell, T., Verdon, S., & Pope, R. (2022). On “Physical Therapy and Mental Health: A Scoping Review.” Heywood SE, Connaughton J, Kinsella R, Black S, Bicchi N, Setchell J. Phys Ther. 2022;102:pzac102. Physical Therapy, 103(2), 1-2. Article pzac163. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzac163