Christine Polihronis

Investigator, CHEO Research Institute

Dr. Christine Polihronis currently works at the Knowledge Institute for Child and Youth Mental Health an Addictions as a Senior Data Analyst. She completed her Hons BA at Brock University in 2009, and MA and PhD at Carleton University (2012, 2017). She completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Children’s hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa in 2020. She has worked with a research team at CHEO focusing on understanding the factors that contribute to repeat visits to the Emergency Department, and has been involved in implementing and evaluating the use of the HEADS-ED as part of an Emergency Department Mental Health Clinical Pathway. Since 2020, she has worked at the Knowledge Institute and has focused on research that aims to improve mental health services for children and youth in community settings.

Email Researcher Other Publications

Research Areas

Mental Health COVID- 19 Patient Safety Psychiatry (Child and Adolescent) Emergency Department Research

Research Projects

  1. A Primary Care Mental Health Pathway for Children and Youth: A Mental Health Services Quality Improvement Initiative in Ontario

    07/06/2023

  2. Parenting during the COVID-19 pandemic: The sociodemographic and mental health factors associated with maternal caregiver strain

    03/01/2022

    Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new stressors for parents (“caregivers”) that may affect their own and their child’s mental health (MH). We explored self-reported levels of caregiver strain (parents’ perceived ability to meet parenting demands), and the MH and sociodemographic factors of caregivers to identify predictors of strain that can be used to guide MH service delivery for families.

  3. What’s the harm in asking? A systematic review and meta-analysis on the risks of asking about suicide-related behaviors and self-harm with quality appraisal

    25/07/2020

    Unfortunately, misperceptions of harm remain which can compromise clinical care, research, and public health surveillance efforts. Our objective was to evaluate the empirical evidence on whether and how asking about suicide related behaviors (SRB), such as suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) results in harmful outcomes.

  4. The HEADS-ED: Evaluating the Clinical Use of a Brief, Action-Oriented, Pediatric Mental Health Screening Tool

    01/06/2020

    Results support the HEADS-ED's use by PED physicians to help guide the assessment and referral process and for discussing the clinical needs of patients among health care providers using a common action-oriented language.