معرفی
Teresa Iacono is a prominent academic researcher at La Trobe University, Australia, with a sustained focus on disability inclusion, health equity, and service delivery for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Her work spans education, healthcare, and social support systems, emphasizing policy reform, quality improvement, and systemic responsiveness.
Her research interests center on inclusive education, intellectual disability health, active support models, telehealth, and practice leadership. She investigates how systems can better serve marginalized populations, especially through policy analysis, psychometric tool development, and intervention evaluation. Her studies often employ mixed methods, including systematic reviews, feasibility trials, and qualitative analysis.
The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward improving educational and healthcare access for people with disabilities. Themes include the use of digital tools (e.g., telehealth), measurement of service quality, and equity in medical training. Her work increasingly informs national policy, particularly in Australia’s disability and health sectors.
- A critique of the Disability Royal Commission’s approach and recommendations for educational inclusion in schools (2024)
- Reliability Testing of the Reasonable Adjustments for Inclusive Education Rating Scale (2024)
- Intellectual disability health content within medical curriculum: an audit of what our future doctors are taught (2023)
- Enabling mainstream systems to be more inclusive and responsive to people with disabilities (2022)
Dr. Iacono has been involved in significant research collaborations with experts like Christine Bigby, Emma Bould, and Jo Spong. She has contributed to grants and projects evaluating hospital experiences, supported accommodation, and workforce training. While no formal advising list is provided, her senior authorship and leadership in multi-year projects suggest active mentorship of junior researchers and postgraduate students.
She has co-authored a major book, Disability Practice: Safeguarding Quality Service Delivery (2024), and developed psychometric instruments such as the Group Home Culture Scale. Her work is instrumental in shaping best practices in disability services and inclusive systems.
