Rate My Professor Amy Baker

Dr Amy Baker is a Lecturer in Occupational Therapy within the School of Allied Health and Human Performance in the College of Health at Adelaide University. Her research focuses on wellbeing, with particular emphasis on the prevention of ill-health, health promotion, and social determinants of health. She investigates mental health and wellbeing among emergency services personnel, veterans and their families, changemakers, individuals in rural communities, and people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. Baker employs participatory, co-design, and creative approaches, alongside qualitative and mixed methods research. Her work also addresses environmental issues, sustainability, and wellbeing, including community gardens, nature-based environments, the impacts of climate change on wellbeing, sustainable practices, and planetary flourishing. Additionally, she explores human flourishing and virtue ethics, highlighting the roles of relationships and a sense of purpose in wellbeing. Baker teaches a range of courses in the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy and Master of Occupational Therapy programs, including Advanced Community Occupational Therapy Practice and Chronic Conditions Management, Primary Health Care Approaches in Occupational Therapy, Evidence Based Practice Skills, Participatory Community Practice, and Therapeutic Communication and Group Work.

Baker has contributed to funded research projects, such as the help-seeking behaviors of emergency service first responders for mental health concerns, supported by The Road Home from 2017 to 2019, and the development of a research protocol for evaluating a suicide prevention network, funded by the Local Government Association of South Australia in 2016-2017. She currently co-supervises a Master's student researching Australian women and birthing parents' experiences with digital health tools for psychosocial wellbeing in the perinatal period. Her key publications include Lane et al. (2010) on sensory processing subtypes in autism and their association with adaptive behavior in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders; Baker et al. (2008) examining sensory processing patterns and behavioral responsiveness in autistic disorder; Kingsley et al. (2023) on pandemic gardening in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening; Bowen Salter et al. (2022) describing elements of art therapy practice for trauma in the International Journal of Art Therapy; and recent works on the Invictus Pathways Program for veterans (Post et al., 2023, PLOS ONE), employment interventions for borderline personality disorder (Kernot et al., 2023), and former occupational therapists' reasons for leaving the profession (Turner et al., 2024). Her research has garnered over 2500 citations, influencing fields of occupational therapy, mental health, and environmental wellbeing.