Dr Maria Karanikola is Assοciate Professor at Cyprus University of Technology since 2008. She holds a BSc in Nursing (1999) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Nursing, as well as a Master’s degree in Mental Health (2001) and a PhD in Mental Health Nursing (2006) from this institute. She has a clinical experience as a staff nurse in a variety of clinical settings, including mental health services, since 1999.
Her main research interest focuses not only on clinical populations, but on mental health issues in community settings, such as workplace and educational institutes, as [...]well as vulnerable, non-clinical populations. Mental health needs of vulnerable populations and of those within work and school environment constitute a major public health issue, thus being an important axis of her research interests.
The way the workplace environment is associated with mental health issues and well-being among employees is a major research topic in her research activity, especially the healthcare working environment. In line with this, she is interested in the interaction between the healthcare milieu and the mental health well-being of both employees, i.e. nurses, and patients. Her special focus is in mental health, emergency, critical care and oncology settings. Moreover, she is exploring the experience of disease and of receiving/delivering care and how this may affect patients’, family members’ and healthcare professionals’ mental, psychological, social and spiritual responses, i.e. meaning-making and values. So far she has explored professional role issues among Greek and Cypriot nurses and their association with mental health (neuro-biological, psychological & social) parameters, as well as with the quality and safety of provided care. She has also launched a number of studies exploring the living experience of mentally ill and cancer patients, as well as their perceptions of provided therapy/care and therapeutic relationship with nurses/healthcare providers.
With regard to educational settings, her research activity regards mental health issues in schoolchildren and university students, with a special focus on depressive symptoms, self-harming, suicidality and bullying. Recently, she completed an interventional study on empowering stress-management skills in primary school head teachers.
In relation to clinical populations, so far she has studied issues related to clinical assessment, quality and safety standards of therapy and experience of ill health.
In the immediate future she intends to explore the association among neuro-cognitive functioning, stress/inflammatory bio-markers and resilience in nurses’ and mentally ill/ ICU patients, as well as the effectiveness of talking therapies and support interventions (education, cognitive behavioral techniques, technology) in both nurses’ and patients’ empowerment.
Below are a few relevant representative publications on public health topics:
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Karanikola+M+%5Bauth%5D&sort=pubdate)
- Socio-Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Adults With Psychotic Symptomatology Under Involuntary Admission and Readmission for Compulsory Treatment in a Referral Psychiatric Hospital in Cyprus. Kaikoushi K, Middleton N, Chatzittofis A, Bella E, Alevizopoulos G, Karanikola M. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 17;12:602274. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.602274.
- Medical cannabis attitudes, beliefs and knowledge among Greek-Cypriot University nursing students. Sokratous S, Mpouzika MDA, Kaikoushi K, Hatzimilidonis L, Koutroubas VS, Karanikola MNK. Complement Ther Med. 2021 May;58:102707. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2021.102707.
- Tools for assessment of acute psychological distress in critical illness: A scoping review. Kusi-Appiah E, Karanikola M, Pant U, Meghani S, Kennedy M, Papathanassoglou E. Aust Crit Care. 2021 Feb 26:S1036-7314(20)30351-9. doi: 10.1016/j.aucc.2020.12.003. Online ahead of print.
- Attitudes, beliefs and knowledge towards Medical Cannabis of Greek undergraduate and postgraduate university nursing students. Giannakopoulou M, Vouzavali F, Paikopoulou D, Paschali A, Mpouzika MDA, Karanikola MNK. Complement Ther Med. 2021 May;58:102703. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2021.102703.
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers. Chatzittofis A, Karanikola M, Michailidou K, Constantinidou A. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 3;18(4):1435. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041435.
- Association Between Workplace Bullying Occurrence and Trauma Symptoms Among Healthcare Professionals in Cyprus. Aristidou L, Mpouzika M, Papathanassoglou EDE, Middleton N, Karanikola MNK. Front Psychol. 2020 Nov 12;11:575623. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575623.
- Pilot exploration of post-traumatic stress symptoms in intensive care unit survivors in Cyprus. Karanikola M, Alexandrou G, Mpouzika M, Chatzittofis A, Kusi-Appiah E, Papathanassoglou E. Nurs Crit Care. 2021 Mar;26(2):109-117. doi: 10.1111/nicc.12574.
- Mental health among single mothers in Cyprus: a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study. Rousou E, Kouta C, Middleton N, Karanikola M. BMC Womens Health. 2019 May 16;19(1):67. doi: 10.1186/s12905-019-0763-9.
- Association between illegal use of substances and suicidal behavior in school students: An integrative review of empirical data. Karanikola M, Zisimou P, Nystazaki M, Koutrouba A, Severinsson E. J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Nurs. 2019 May;32(2):80-101. doi: 10.1111/jcap.12228.
- The Association between Deliberate Self-Harm and School Bullying Victimization and the Mediating Effect of Depressive Symptoms and Self-Stigma: A Systematic Review. Karanikola MNK, Lyberg A, Holm AL, Severinsson E. Biomed Res Int. 2018 Oct 11;2018:4745791. doi: 10.1155/2018/4745791.
- Investigation into the metric properties of the workplace social capital questionnaire and its association with self-rated health and psychological distress amongst Greek-Cypriot registered nurses: cross-sectional descriptive study. Middleton N, Andreou P, Karanikola M, Kouta C, Kolokotroni O, Papastavrou E. BMC Public Health. 2018 Aug 23;18(1):1061. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5959-7.
- The association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms among Cypriot university students: a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study. Sokratous S, Merkouris A, Middleton N, Karanikola M. BMC Public Health. 2013 Dec 5;13:1121. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-1121.
