Rate My Professor Dione Healey

Professor Dione Healey is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago, where she has been an academic since 2008. She earned her BA(Hons), MSc, PhD, and Diploma in Clinical Psychology from the University of Canterbury, completing her PhD in 2006. Prior to joining Otago, she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Queens College of the City University of New York.

Healey's research interests include childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), self-control development, interactions between child temperament and parent characteristics in children with ADHD, neuropsychological functioning and ADHD, and the overlap between ADHD and creativity. She is the lead developer of the ENGAGE programme (Enhancing Neurobehavioural Gains with the Aid of Games and Exercise), an early intervention designed to build self-control skills in hyperactive preschoolers. Current projects assess the programme's effectiveness, including a study funded by a Health Research Council Emerging Researcher Grant comparing ENGAGE to the Triple P Positive Parenting Programme. Healey teaches PSYC 112 Abnormal Psychology, PSYC 203 Abnormal Psychology, and PSYC 501 Clinical Intervention. Her awards include the New Zealand Psychological Society's Goddard Award for Achievement and Excellence in Research and Scholarship, the University of Otago Early Career Award for Distinction in Research, and the Health Research Council Emerging Researcher Grant. Key publications comprise 'Spanish adaptation and psychometric evidence of the teacher-report version of the Children's Problems Checklist: Early identification of the impairment related to ADHD symptoms' (Navarro-Soria et al., 2025, Cogent Psychology), 'Assessment of self-regulation at school entry: A literature review of existing screening tools and suitability for the Aotearoa New Zealand context' (Barrett-Young et al., 2024, Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment), 'Adaption and implementation of the ENGAGE programme within the early childhood curriculum' (Healey et al., 2022, Scientific Reports), and 'Randomized Controlled Trial comparing the effectiveness of computerised attention training with the ENGAGE programme' (Healey & Healey, 2019, Scientific Reports). In August 2025, she presented her Inaugural Professorial Lecture, 'ENGAGE-ing in self-regulation research'.