Dr Olga Chelidoni
My research project
My PhD is an interdisciplinary investigation into the cognitive, emotional and physiological factors implicated in the recovery from work process. I am particularly interested in how cognitive and emotion regulation difficulties affect the way employees think about work during their free time. For my PhD, I am also exploring the effect of an app.-based biofeedback intervention in facilitating stress recovery in employees.
Supervisors
University roles and responsibilities
- Graduate Teaching Assistant (PSY2017)
- Graduate Teaching Assistant (PSY1021)
- Academic Tutor
My qualifications
Affiliations and memberships
Biography
After completing my undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of Athens, I moved in the UK in order to pursue postgraduate studies in Health Psychology at the University of Surrey. Having always been interested in occupational health topics, for my MSc dissertation I had the opportunity to explore stress, health and coping issues in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) healthcare professionals employed in NHS Trusts in the South East of England. For this pilot study, I investigated specific stressors within the ICU environment and their impact on doctors' and nurses' stress,burnout levels work-related thinking.
Once I completed my MSc, I took a two-year break and worked as a Senior Mental Health Support Worker at Cygnet Healthcare. By working in a secure forensic mental health ward I had the chance to gain practical experience that only demanding mental health settings offer. At the same placement, I also worked as Honorary Psychology Assistant where I delivered substance misuse relapse prevention sessions, assisted in mindfulness and DBT groups and contributed to MDT meetings, all under the supervision of a chartered forensic psychologist.
Having worked in healthcare, I witnessed and subsequently became even more interested in the effect that work stress and strain can have workers’ well-being. I specifically became interested in what factors might make it easier for some and harder for others to cognitively and emotionally relax after a stressful 12-hour shift .Therefore, I decided to pursue a PhD in Occupational Health Psychology and conduct research about the recovery from work process and the topic of work-related rumination.
Research
Research interests
My research interests focus on: recovery from work, executive functioning in work-related thinking, emotional regulation, Heart Rate Variability and biofeedback, stress recovery and employee well-being issues. Generally I am interested in any topic that lies within the area of occupational health research.
My publications
Publications
Background
The work demands of critical care can be a major cause of stress in intensive care unit (ICU) professionals and lead to poor health outcomes. In the process of recovery from work, psychological rumination is considered to be an important mediating variable in the relationship between work demands and health outcomes. This study aimed to extend our knowledge of the process by which ICU stressors and differing rumination styles are associated with burnout, depression and risk of psychiatric morbidity among ICU professionals.
Methods
Ninety-six healthcare professionals (58 doctors and 38 nurses) who work in ICUs in the UK completed a questionnaire on ICU-related stressors, burnout, work-related rumination, depression and risk of psychiatric morbidity.
Results
Significant associations between ICU stressors, affective rumination, burnout, depression and risk of psychiatric morbidity were found. Longer working hours were also related to increased ICU stressors. Affective rumination (but not problem-solving pondering or distraction detachment) mediated the relationship between ICU stressors, burnout, depression and risk of psychiatric morbidity, such that increased ICU stressors, and greater affective rumination, were associated with greater burnout, depression and risk of psychiatric morbidity. No moderating effects were observed.
Conclusions
Longer working hours were associated with increased ICU stressors, and increased ICU stressors conferred greater burnout, depression and risk of psychiatric morbidity via increased affective rumination. The importance of screening healthcare practitioners within intensive care for depression, burnout and psychiatric morbidity has been highlighted. Future research should evaluate psychological interventions which target rumination style and could be made available to those at highest risk. The efficacy and cost effectiveness of delivering these interventions should also be considered.
Additional publications
Conferences
Chelidoni, O., Cropley, M. & Plans, D. (2019, November). An investigation into the physiological, cognitive and emotional effects of insufficient recovery from work. Oral presentation at the APA/NIOSH Work, Stress and Health Conference, 4 to 6 November, Philadelphia, USA.
Chelidoni, O., Cropley, M. & Plans, D. (2019, June). A longitudinal investigation of the role executive function plays in the recovery from work process. In A. Sanz-Vergel (Chair) & D. Xanthopoulou (Co-Chair), A cognitive approach to the study recovery, Oral presentation in symposium conducted at the 19th Congress of European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology, Turin, Italy.
Chelidoni, O., Cropley, M. & Plans,D. (2018, September). Exploring the cognitive and affective correlates of work-related rumination, Oral presentation at the 13th European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology Conference, 5 to 7 September, Lisbon, Portugal
Chelidoni, O., Vandrevala, T., Cox, A. (2014, November). Stress, Health and Coping in Healthcare Professionals working in Intensive Care in UK, Poster Presented at Research Seminar on Death and Dying 2014, Interpretations of death and dying, Kingston University London.
Tzanne, P., Ypofanti, M., Chelidoni, O., Lyrakos, G. (2013, October). Measurement of the psychometric properties of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Poster presented at the 1st Panhellenic Conference in Mental Health in Primary Health Care, First Announcement’s Award, 10 to 13 October, Athens, Greece.