Section: Overview
Overview
Key publications
Research funding
Supervising & teaching
Career

Key details

Areas of expertise

  • Exercise rehabilitation
  • Research in culturally & linguistically diverse communities
  • Community engagement & empowerment
  • Implementation & evaluation of complex interventions
  • Higher Education learning

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

About Clarice Tang

Clarice is a professor of Physiotherapy with the College of Sport, Health & Engineering, leading the physiotherapy program at VU. She is also an established researcher who specialises in the use of consumer partnership methodologies to co-design and co-produce various health interventions for different chronic disease conditions, in particularly with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.

Professionally, Clarice is a registered physiotherapist who has extensive experience working across various health settings including in the Emergency Department. She is also one of the first few accredited advanced scope physiotherapy practitioners in Australia.

From a research perspective, Clarice’s research interest in chronic disease management stemmed from her PhD where she evaluated the safety and feasibility of implementing an exercise program for people who are acutely unwell with an exacerbation of COPD. Since completion of her PhD, she has expanded her area of research to include a multitude of chronic diseases, including:

  • chronic respiratory disease
  • diabetes
  • cancer survivorship
  • osteoarthritis
  • osteoporosis.

She has also focused on creating culturally appropriate self-management programs, focusing in engagement and empowerment, so as to increase levels of self-efficacy in chronic disease management among people from CALD communities. To date, she have been awarded AUD$1.5 million dollars in research funding (including Cat 1 grants), published in numerous Q1 journals and presented at both national and international conferences.

Apart from her interest in chronic disease management, Clarice is also a passionate educator who has led scholarly works in learning and teaching involving areas such as physiotherapy education and sense of belonging among first year students. She has been awarded a VC award for her teaching excellence in 2022 and has a senior fellowship with the Advanced Higher Education UK.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Physiotherapy (equivalent to PhD), La Trobe University, Australia, 2015
  • Bachelor of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Australia, 2004

Key publications

Year Citation
2024 Bronio, J. B., Si, L., Lim, D., & Tang, C. (241201). Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT) for Chinese populations in Australia. Archives of Osteoporosis, 19(1),

doi: 10.1007/s11657-024-01404-4

2024 Althubyani, A. N., Gupta, S., Tang, C. Y., Batra, M., Puvvada, R. K., Higgs, P., Joisa, M., & Thomas, J. (240801). Barriers and Enablers of Diabetes Self-Management Strategies Among Arabic-Speaking Immigrants Living with Type 2 Diabetes in High-Income Western countries- A Systematic Review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 26(4), (761-774).

doi: 10.1007/s10903-023-01576-0

2024 Tang, C. Y., Bernstein, B., Blackstock, F., Blondeel, A., Gershon, A., Gimeno-Santos, E., Gloeckl, R., Marques, A., Spruit, M. A., & Garvey, C. (240601). Unravelling the complex interplay of factors behind exercise limitations and physical inactivity in COPD. Breathe, 20(2),

doi: 10.1183/20734735.0180-2023

2024 Tang, C. Y., Bastani, A., Sidhu, B., Saberi, G., & Baker, E. (240601). Access, Readiness and Willingness to Engage in Allied Health Telerehabilitation Services for Adults: Does Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Make a Difference?. Healthcare (Switzerland), 12(11),

doi: 10.3390/healthcare12111141

2024 Chu, N., Pho, J., Dark, L., Tan, A., Alford, S., Tang, C. Y., Ellison, C., & Lim, D. (240601). A scoping review into the service needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds living with disability to engage in meaningful occupations. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 71(3), (408-422).

doi: 10.1111/1440-1630.12938

2024 Althubyani, A., Tang, C., Thomas, J., & Gupta, S. (240301). Evaluating the Use of Web-Based Technologies for Self-Management among Arabic-Speaking Immigrants Living with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia. Diabetology, 5(1), (85-95).

doi: 10.3390/diabetology5010007

2024 Patel, G., Brady, B., McMullan, M., & Tang, C. (240301). Exploring the cognitive processes of both Arabic and English-speaking patients when completing the brief pain inventory: A qualitative study. Musculoskeletal Care, 22(1),

doi: 10.1002/msc.1856

2024 Mojdehi, S., Brady, B., Tang, C., & Peiris, C. L. (240101). The effectiveness of multidisciplinary, activity-based chronic pain interventions for adults of ethnoculturally diverse backgrounds: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Disability and Rehabilitation,

doi: 10.1080/09638288.2024.2349761

2024 Peter, M., Maddocks, S., Tang, C., & Camp, P. G. (240101). Simplicity: Using the Power of Plain Language to Encourage Patient-Centered Communication. Physical Therapy, 104(1),

doi: 10.1093/ptj/pzad103

2023 Naylor, J. M., Bhandari, P., Descallar, J., Yang, O. O., Rider, M., Mayland, E. C., Tang, C., Brady, B., Lim, D., & Santalucia, Y. (231201). Comparison of short-term outcomes between people with and without a pre-morbid mental health diagnosis following surgery for traumatic hand injury: a prospective longitudinal study of a multicultural cohort. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 24(1),

doi: 10.1186/s12891-023-06931-8

Research funding for the past 5 years

Please note:

  • Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
  • Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
  • The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.

The Natural Helper approach to culturally responsive healthcare
From: Medical Research Future Fund
For period: 2023-2025
$576,851

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following organisations for their support and essential contributions to my research:

  • SPHERE

    Funding support for seeding grants amount to $50 000 in 2022

  • Western Sydney University

    Internal grant funding amount to $20 000 in 2022

  • NSW government

    Funding for "Co-designing a culturally appropriate self-directed home-based management model with the Arabic-speaking communities" up to $199 581 in 2022

  • 2022 MRFF Consumer-led Grant

    Funding for "The Natural Helper approach to culturally responsive healthcare" $576851

Supervision of research students at VU

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

Currently supervised research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
1 PhD Associate supervisor

Currently supervised research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD (1) Associate supervisor

Other supervision of research students

Completed supervision: 1 PhD (La Trobe University- co supervisor) 7 Honours (Western Sydney University- lead supervisor) Currently supervising 4 PhD candidates (co supervisor for 2 at La Trobe University, 1 at University of Canberra and 1 at Western Sydney University), 3 Masters students with Western Sydney University and one Honours student at Western Sydney University.

Teaching activities & experience

Clarice is an experienced educator in cardiorespiratory physiotherapy who has designed and facilitated highly engaging units in physiotherapy across various institutions in Australia. She has experiences in curriculum design, in particularly simulation-based learning and utilising partnership pedagogy to design engaging units with students. At VU, Clarice is the unit coordinator of the following units:

- HPT 1001 Introduction to Health Profession (Physiotherapy)

- HPT 4002 Physiotherapy in Cardiorespiratory Practice

- HPT 6001 Integrated Practice 1

She is also currently leading the physiotherapy program at VU. 

Key academic roles

Dates Role Department / Organisation
Feb 2023 - Present
Course Chair of Physiotherapy
Victoria University
Oct 2018 - Jan 2023
Director of Academic Program
Western Sydney University
Apr 2012 - Aug 2018
Lecturer
La Trobe University
Dates Role & Department/Organisation
Feb 2023 -
Present
Course Chair of Physiotherapy
Victoria University
Oct 2018 -
Jan 2023
Director of Academic Program
Western Sydney University
Apr 2012 -
Aug 2018
Lecturer
La Trobe University

Awards

Year Award
2022

VC Teaching Excellence Award - Western Sydney University

Professional memberships

  • Academic Member, Australian Physiotherapy Association
  • Academic Member, Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand
  • Planning Committee member for Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly, American Thoracic Society
  • Executive Committee Member, Council of Deans of Physiotherapy Australia and New Zealand

Media appearances

02nd March 2023

Do you have risk of osteoporosis? (In Chinese)

This was a SBS audio recording where I spoke about how people from chinese-speaking communities can recognise their risk of osteoporosis and what everyone can do to improve their bone health.

08th December 2022

How physios and occupational therapists are helping long COVID sufferers

This is an article that was published in The Conversation on the 8th December 2022 to highlight the role that allied health professionals such as physios and occupational therapists play in helping people with long COVID.

22nd November 2022

Tested positive to COVID? Go easy on yourself-try not to rush back to work or exercise

This is an article that has been commissioned by The Conversation to write about things that people need to be aware about when going back to work after tested positive to COVID.