Efrosini Papaconstantinou
PhD

Research and expertise

• Background and interests

  Dr. Efrosini Papaconstantinou completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and her PhD at the University of Toronto, Ontario. Her clinical background is in pediatric nursing, where she worked closely with families and members of the interdisciplinary care team to provide comprehensive care to families whose children required invasive cardiac procedures. She has extensive experience teaching in undergraduate nursing education and uses simulation technology to engage students in their learning by enabling them to practise and develop clinical decision-making skills in a ‘safe’ learning environment.

  Her research interests include the evaluation of nursing interventions aimed to improve sleep and health outcomes in children, adolescents and their families. For her doctoral dissertation, she developed and evaluated the innovative Relax to Sleep program to improve the sleep of hospitalized children during their hospital stays and once they have been discharged home. From this pilot study, she hopes to better understand how the use of this psycho-behavioural intervention may impact sleep outcomes, anxiety levels and post-hospital maladaptive behaviours in children. She is one of the very few nurse researchers in Canada to use actigraphy, an objective measure of sleep/wake patterns. She is also interested in examining the sleep patterns and predictors of disturbed sleep in other pediatric populations. From this research she hopes to develop and evaluate targeted interventions to improve sleep and other health outcomes.

  She has received the highly competitive SickKids Foundation Research Fellowship Award in Complementary and Alternative Health Care and Paediatrics. Her study also received a research grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Team Research and Training Program: Sleep and Biological Rhythms.

• Publications
  • Nonoyama, M., Kukreti, V., Papaconstantinou, E., Raymond D’cruz, R. (2019) Assessing physical and respiratory distress in children with bronchiolitis admitted to a community hospital emergency, department: A retrospective chart review. Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy. Vol 55, 16-20. 
  • Bartfay E, Stewart P, Bartfay W, Papaconstantinou E. (2019) Is there an association between physical activity and sleep in community-dwelling persons with dementia: An exploratory study using self-reported measures? Healthcare 2019; 7:6. doi:10.3390/healthcare7010006.
  • Papaconstantinou, E., Shearer H, Fynn-Sackey N, Smith, K., Taylor-Vaisey, A., & Côté, P. (2018). The Association Between Chronotype and Mental Health Problems in a University Population: A Systematic Review of the Literature. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction,   2018.10.18
  • Papaconstantinou, E., Hodnett E., & Stremler,R. (2018) A Behavioral-Educational Intervention to Promote Pediatric Sleep During Hospitalization: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 16:4, 356-370, DOI: 10.1080/15402002.2016.1228639 
  • Zupanec, S., Jones, H., McRae, L., Papaconstantinou, E., Weston, J., & Stremler, R. (2016). A Sleep Hygiene and Relaxation Intervention for Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Cancer nursing, 40(6), 488-496.
  • Coffey, S., Graham, L., de la Rocha, A., Chorney, D., Cumming, K., Papaconstantinou, E., Mairs, S., Zitzelsberger, H. Vogel, E., and Sproul, S. 92014) Moving Simulation out of the lab and into Mainstream Nursing Education Practices. EduLearn 2014: 6th International Conference on Education and New learning Technologies, Barcelona, Spain, July 2014.     
  • Papaconstantinou, E., Hodnett, E., and Stremler, R. The Relax to Sleep Study: A pilot RCT. The 28th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., June 2014. 
  • Papaconstantinou, E., Hodnett, E., and Stremler, R. A behavioural-educational intervention to promote pediatric sleep during hospitalization and beyond: A pilot RCT. Biennial Paediatric Nursing Conference, Pediatric Nurses Interest Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 2014 (Poster).
  • Papaconstantinou, E., Hodnett, E., and Stremler, R. The Relax to Sleep study: A pilot RCT. Pediatric Sleep Medicine Conference, Amelia Island, FL., USA, November 2013 (Young Investigator Presentation).
  • Papaconstantinou, E., Hodnett, E., and Stremler, R. A behavioural-educational intervention to promote pediatric sleep during hospitalization and beyond: A pilot RCT. 6thConference of the Canadian Sleep Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. October 2013 (Poster).
• Courses taught

  Courses taught (past and present) at the undergraduate level:

  • HLSC2810 – Child and Adolescent Health
  • NUR4700 – Nursing Synthesis
  • NUR4701 – Nursing Final Practicum 
• Grants
  • 2014: Coffey, S., Zitzelsberger, H., Papaconstantinou, E., Lindsay, G., Abbass Dick, J., de la Rocha, A., Graham, L., and Chorney, D. ($7,340). Nursing Transformations: Illuminating Transformative Learning and the Potential for Nursing Practice Transformation amongst Ontario Tech-DC Collaborative BScN Students. Funder: Ontario Tech Teaching Innovative Fund.
  • 2013: Graham, L., Tidman, R., and Papaconstantinou, E.($3,000). QRT: A quick reference tool for nurses to enhance patient safety. Funder: Durham College.
  • 2013: Papaconstantinou, E. ($1,000). The Better Nights, Better Days Trainee Program. Travel Funds.
  • 2011: Papaconstantinou, E., Stremler, R., and Hodnett, E. ($3,000 plus $1,000 for travel). The feasibility and acceptability of a behavioural-educational intervention to improve pediatric sleep during hospitalization: A pilot RCT. Funder: CIHR Team Research Grant in Sleep and Biological Rhythms.               
  • 2008: Papaconstantinou, E. ($105,000 over three years plus $1,000 for travel). Doctoral Fellowship in Complementary and Alternative Health Care and Paediatrics. Funder: SickKids Foundation.
• Education
  • Bachelor of Science in Nursing, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario
  • Master of Science, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario
  • PhD, University of Toronto