Rosa Virgara

Research Interests

Cardiology (incl. cardiovascular diseases) Health Promotion Physiotherapy

Dr Rosa Virgara

Lecturer, Physiotherapy

School of Allied Health and Human Performance

College of Health

Rosa is a lecturer in the physiotherapy undergraduate and graduate programs. She completed her Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Honours in 2007. As a new graduate, she worked in a large tertiary hospital in a variety of acute care roles from orthopaedic, cardiorespiratory, women's health, and outpatient physiotherapy. In addition, she’s been a clinical educator for third-year Acute Care. In 2018 she returned to UniSA to undertake her Ph.D. in which she led the development of physical activity and screen time guidelines for use in Outside School Hours Care. In addition to working as a lecturer she is involved in research with the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition, and Activity (ARENA) group.

2021:2024 "A multisite guideline implementation randomised controlled trial to improve physical activity and screen time in Out of School Hours Care."

2022:2023: "Developing an evaluation strategy for the South Australia Sports Voucher Program" - Masters by Research Student

2022:2025 "Improving school holiday programs for at risk children" - PhD Student Research

Date Position Institution name
2023 - ongoing Lecturer - Physiotherapy University of South Australia
2019 - ongoing Physiotherapist Calvary Hospital

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2022 Research Award 2021 Ian Davey Thesis Prize University of South Australia Australia 5000
2018 Research Award Healthy Development Adelaide PhD Excellence Award University of Adelaide Australia 15000

Language Competency
English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
Italian Can read, write, speak and understand spoken

Date Institution name Country Title
2018 - 2021 University of South Australia Australia PhD
2004 - 2007 University of South Australia Australia Bachelor of Physiotherapy with Honours (1)

Year Citation
2025 Maher, C., Christian, H., Nathan, N., Okely, A., Bogomolova, S., Lewis, L. K., . . . Wolfenden, L. (2025). Improving physical activity and screen time in Australian Outside School Hours Care: Study protocol. Pediatric Research, 97(5), 1516-1521.
DOI
2025 Eglitis, E., Olds, T., Virgara, R., Machell, A., Richardson, M., Brannelly, K., & Maher, C. (2025). Levelling-up summer: using summer holiday programs to support child health and wellbeing - a Delphi study. BMC Public Health, 25(1, article no. 3782), 1-14.
DOI
2024 Eglitis, E., Miatke, A., Virgara, R., Machell, A., Olds, T., Richardson, M., & Maher, C. (2024). Children's health, wellbeing and academic outcomes over the summer holidays: a scoping review. Children, 11(3, article no. 287), 1-28.
DOI Scopus9 WoS10 Europe PMC9
2024 Simpson, C. E. M., Curtis, R. G., Virgara, R., Crisp, M., Licari, S., James, M., . . . Maher, C. A. (2024). Financial incentives for physical activity and sports participation in young people. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 52(3), 108-114.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2024 Eglitis, E., Simpson, C., Singh, B., Olds, T., Machell, A., Virgara, R., . . . Rix, Z. (2024). Effect of summer holiday programs on children's mental health and well-being: systematic review and meta-Analysis. Children, 11(8), 1-27.
DOI Scopus3 WoS4 Europe PMC1
2024 Virgara, R., Singh, B., O'Connor, E., Szeto, K., Merkx, Z., Rees, C., . . . Maher, C. (2024). Keep on truckin': how effective are health behaviour interventions on truck drivers' health? A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 24(1, article no. 2623), 1-23.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2024 Eglitis, E., Singh, B., Olds, T., Virgara, R., Machell, A., Richardson, M., . . . Maher, C. (2024). Health effects of children's summer holiday programs: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 21(1), 1-19.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC5
2024 Simpson, C. E. M., Virgara, R., Curtis, R. G., Crisp, M., Licari, S., Foley, B. C., & Maher, C. A. (2024). Setting the game plan: an international Delphi study on evaluating a population-wide youth sports financial incentive. BMC Public Health, 24(1), 1-15.
DOI
2023 Singh, B., Olds, T., Curtis, R., Dumuid, D., Virgara, R., Watson, A., . . . Maher, C. (2023). Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(18), 1-10.
DOI Scopus579 WoS525 Europe PMC406
2023 Wenden, E. J., Virgara, R., Pearce, N., Budgeon, C., & Christian, H. E. (2023). Movement behavior policies in the early childhood education and care setting: an international scoping review. Frontiers in Public Health, 11(1077977), 1-15.
DOI Scopus9 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2023 Singh, B., Olds, T., Brinsley, J., Dumuid, D., Virgara, R., Matricciani, L., . . . Maher, C. (2023). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of chatbots on lifestyle behaviours. npj Digital Medicine, 6(118), 1-10.
DOI Scopus99 WoS87 Europe PMC74
2023 Curtis, R. G., Crisp, M., Licari, S., Virgara, R., Simpson, C. E. M., & Maher, C. A. (2023). Uptake of a universal sports subsidy program for school-aged children: a population data analysis. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 20(10), 948.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC4
2023 Dumuid, D., Singh, B., Brinsley, J., Virgara, R., Curtis, R. G., Brinkman, S., & Maher, C. A. (2023). Trends in Well-Being Among Youth in Australia, 2017-2022. JAMA Network Open, 6(8), 1-4.
DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC1
2022 Virgara, R., Phillips, A., Lewis, L. K., Richardson, M., & Maher, C. A. (2022). Physical activity and screen time in outside school hours care services across Australia: current versus best practice. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 8 pages.
DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC4
2022 Ferguson, T., Olds, T., Curtis, R., Blake, H., Crozier, A. J., Dankiw, K., . . . Maher, C. (2022). Effectiveness of wearable activity trackers to increase physical activity and improve health: a systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Lancet Digital Health, 4(8), e615-e626.
DOI Scopus299 WoS274 Europe PMC223
2022 Kennewell, E., Curtis, R. G., Maher, C., Luddy, S., & Virgara, R. (2022). The relationships between school children's wellbeing, socio-economic disadvantage and after-school activities: a cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatrics, 22(1, article no. 297), 1-9.
DOI Scopus30 WoS26 Europe PMC11
2021 Virgara, R., Phillips, A., Lewis, L. K., Baldock, K., Wolfenden, L., Ferguson, T., . . . Maher, C. (2021). Interventions in outside-school hours childcare settings for promoting physical activity amongst schoolchildren aged 4 to 12 years. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2021(9), 1-70.
DOI Scopus7 WoS10 Europe PMC13
2021 Virgara, R., Phillips, A., Lewis, L., Richardson, M., & Maher, C. (2021). Development of Australian physical activity and screen time guidelines for outside school hours care: an international Delphi study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 18(1), 14 pages.
DOI Scopus15 WoS14 Europe PMC13
2021 Ferguson, T., Curtis, R., Fraysse, F., Lagiseti, R., Northcott, C., Virgara, R., . . . Maher, C. A. (2021). Annual, seasonal, cultural and vacation patterns in sleep, sedentary behaviour and physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 21(1, article no. 1384), 1-14.
DOI Scopus24 WoS25 Europe PMC20
2021 Curtis, R. G., Bartel, B., Ferguson, T., Blake, H. T., Northcott, C., Virgara, R., & Maher, C. A. (2021). Improving User Experience of Virtual Health Assistants: Scoping Review (Preprint).
DOI
2021 Curtis, R. G., Bartel, B., Ferguson, T., Blake, H. T., Northcott, C., Virgara, R., & Maher, C. A. (2021). Improving User Experience of Virtual Health Assistants: Scoping Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(12), e31737.
DOI Scopus79 WoS57 Europe PMC36
2020 Virgara, R., Lewis, L., Phillips, A., Richardson, M., & Maher, C. (2020). A scoping review of physical activity and screen time guidelines for use in Outside School Hours Care. BMC Pediatrics, 20(1), 11 pages.
DOI Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC5
2019 Virgara, R., Maher, C., Lewis, L. K., Phillips, A., Wolfenden, L., Okely, A., . . . Baldock, K. (2019). Interventions in outside-school hours childcare settings for promoting physical activity amongst schoolchildren aged 4 to 12 years. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2019(7, article no. CD013380), 1-18.
DOI Scopus9
2019 Maher, C., Virgara, R., Okely, T., Stanley, R., Watson, M., & Lewis, L. (2019). Physical activity and screen time in out of school hours care: an observational study. BMC Pediatrics, 19(1), 1-10.
DOI Scopus15 WoS14 Europe PMC13
2018 Virgara, R., Maher, C., & Van Kessel, G. (2018). The comorbidity of low back pelvic pain and risk of depression and anxiety in pregnancy in primiparous women. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 18(article no. 288), 1-7.
DOI Scopus54 WoS50 Europe PMC43
2012 Richards, E., Van Kessel, G., Virgara, R., & Harris, P. (2012). Does antenatal physical therapy for pregnant women with low back pain or pelvic pain improve functional outcomes? A systematic review. Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 91(9), 1038-1045.
DOI Scopus31 WoS24 Europe PMC16

Year Citation
2020 Virgara, R., Lewis, L. K., Phillips, A., Richardson, M., & Maher, C. A. (2020). Guidelines for physical activity and screen-time in the outside school hours childcare setting: a scoping review..
DOI

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2026 - ongoing Principal Supervisor What’s happening in the real world? A survey of assistive devices used by Physiotherapists in hospitals across Australia and New Zealand Adelaide University - Honours Full Time Beau D'Mello
2022 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Understanding impact: towards a comprehensive evaluation of South Australia's Sports Voucher program University of South Australia - Master Part Time Catherine Simpson
2021 - 2027 Co-Supervisor Summer solutions: interventions to address children's summer holiday inequitities and health losses University of South Australia - Higher Doctorate Full Time Emily Eglitis

Date Role Committee Institution Country
2023 - ongoing Member Australian Physiotherapy Association - Educators group Australian Physiotherapy Association Australia

Date Role Membership Country
2007 - ongoing Member Australian Physiotherapy Association -

Date Topic Presented at Institution Country
2025 - ongoing Beyond the university - preparing graduates for workplace readiness Australian Physiotherapy Conference University of South Australia Australia
2025 - ongoing Driving better health and safety for transport workers through lifestyle interventions University of Queensland University of Queensland Australia

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