Rate My Professor Fi Graham

Associate Professor Fiona Graham, known professionally as Fi Graham, is an occupational therapist serving as Head of the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit (RTRU) in the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. She holds a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (BOccTher) from Otago Polytechnic, a PhD from the University of Queensland, a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCert HE), and New Zealand Registration in Occupational Therapy (NZROT). Based in Christchurch, Graham teaches in postgraduate programmes including interprofessional rehabilitation, rehabilitation with children and families, service evaluation and innovation in rehabilitation, and knowledge translation. She acts as RTRU Course Adviser and masters' co-ordinator for the Diploma of Rehabilitation and Certificate in Health Science (Clinical Rehabilitation).

During her PhD at the University of Queensland, Graham developed Occupational Performance Coaching (OPC), a collaborative strengths-based intervention initially for occupational therapists supporting parents of children with developmental disabilities, now applied by multiple rehabilitation professions to assist individuals of all ages with diverse health conditions. Her research specializations encompass rehabilitation for children with neurodisability and their families, effectiveness of coaching interventions, telehealth service delivery, therapists' uptake of evidence-based practice, and participation-focused interventions informed by lived experiences using qualitative, participatory, and quantitative methodologies. Key publications include the co-authored Occupational Performance Coaching: A Manual for Practitioners and Researchers (Routledge, with Kennedy, Behr, and Ziviani), Occupational Performance Coaching Resources (Graham, 2020), Effectiveness of Occupational Performance Coaching in Improving Children’s and Mothers’ Performance and Mothers’ Self-Competence (2013), Fidelity of Occupational Performance Coaching: Importance of Accuracy in Intervention Identification (2017), A scoping review of coaching in occupational therapy practice: Mapping methods, populations and outcomes (2024), and 'Ask someone, what is their Dreaming?': Exploring occupational performance coaching with service providers supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families (2025). Graham was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022 by Otago Polytechnic.