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Brief Biography

Dr. Katherine Boydell is a Sociologist and Senior Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences at The Hospital for Sick Children. She is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Dr. Boydell received her Master of Health Science degree in Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Toronto and her Doctorate in Sociology at York University.

Dr. Boydell conducts theoretically-based, collaborative, qualitative research in the child and youth mental health system that is relevant and useful for individuals involved in health and social services at the community level - so that evidence will have an impact and will guide positive change. Her program of research in child and youth mental health systems is both substantive and methodological. Substantively, her work focuses on the pathways to mental health care for children and youth, particularly for those experiencing a first episode of psychosis, pediatric telepsychiatry, survivors of childhood cancer transitioning to adulthood, Methodologically, her research projects focus on advancing qualitative methods as well as using and examining the arts in the research creation and dissemination process.

Research Interests

• Child and Youth Mental Health
• Arts-Based Research
• Youth Experiencing First-Episode Psychosis
• Pediatric Telepsychiatry
• Health Systems Research
• Knowledge Translation and Exchange
• Qualitative Methods
• Transitioning Youth
• Rural and Remote Mental Health

Research Activities

• The rural perspective on continuity of care: barriers and facilitators to children's mental health care
• Investigating the pathways to mental health care for youth experiencing first-episode psychosis
• Multi-phase evaluation of pediatric telepsychiatry
• Knowledge translation needs of stakeholders in rural and remote communities
• The impact of self-help groups on families of individuals who are mentally ill

Future Research Interests

• Innovative knowledge translation strategies
• A study of youth at ultra-high risk of developing psychosis
• Advancing qualitative methods

External Funding

Understanding Transition to Meaningful Activity for Survivors of Childhood Brain Tumors, Boydell, K.M., Stasiulis, E., Greenberg, M., Spiegler, B., Greenberg, C., Pole, J. Edelstein, K., Guger, S. and Dyce, B

Ethical Challenges in Arts-based Health Research. Boydell, K.M., Lafreniere, D., Belliveau, G., Cox. Canadian Institutes of Health Research, MPD Grant.

Exploring the transformative potential of arts-based health research: Theoretical, methodological and practical innovations. Boydell, K.M., Belliveau, Eakin, J., Edwards, G., Leeming, B., Parsons, J. & Tilleczek, K. Canadian Institutes of Health Research, MPD Grant.

Exploring the arts as knowledge translation in qualitative research with young people: The early psychosis mural project. Boydell, K.M., Cole, A., Gladstone, B.M., Stasiulis, E., Tilleczek, K., & Volpe, T. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Research-based dance as a knowledge translation strategy. Boydell, K.M., Addington, J., Gladstone, B., Goering, P., McCay, E., Stasiulis, E. & Volpe, T. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Communicating knowledge differently through artistic expression: The early psychosis mural project. Boydell, K.M., Cole, A., Dhayanandhan, B., Gladstone, B., Stasiulis, E. & Volpe, T. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Producing and communicating knowledge differently: Articulating the pathway to mental health care through artistic expression. Boydell, K.M., Dhayanandhan, B., Gladstone, B., Stasiulis, E. & Volpe, T. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Children’s mental health in rural communities: Young people’s perspectives on receiving services via televideo. Boydell, K.M., Clarke, C. Co-investigators: Pignatiello, A., Strickland, G., Volpe, T. & Wickman, D. Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO.

Working the wait: Institutional and family caregiver approaches to managing wait lists for children’s mental health services. Boydell, K.M., Browne, G. & Greenberg, N. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Youth at ultra-high risk of developing psychosis: A comprehensive examination of pathways to care. Boydell, K.M., Addington, J., Gladstone, B. & Stasiulis, E.  Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO.

Advancing focus group analysis: Collective dialogue among youth experiencing first-episode psychosis. Boydell, K.M. Co-investigators: Gladstone, B., Volpe, T. & Stasiulis, E. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Youth experiencing first-episode psychosis: A comprehensive examination of pathways to care. Boydell, K.M., Addington, J., Gladstone, B., Goering, P., Krupa, T., McCay, E. & Volpe, T. Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Achievements

• SSHRC Institutional Grant (SIG) for presentation of arts-based research in the United Kingdom (2009, 2010, 2011)
• Nominated for Creative Professional Activity Award, Department of Psychiatry (2009)
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Senior Researcher Travel Scholarship (2007)
• SSHRC Institutional Grant (SIG) for focus group research (2006, 2007)
• Minister's Award (Ministry of Health and Long-term Care) for Knowledge Transfer research (2002)
• Minister's Award (Ministry of Health and Long-term Care) for research in rural and remote areas (2002)
• Award of Excellence presented by the Canadian Institute of Child Health Best health promotion and innovation poster presentation (2000)
• Paul Steinhauer Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Research on Motivation and Schizophrenia (1999)

Hosted Symposia

Hearing Voices: The Utilization of Qualitative Research in Early Psychosis. (2007). Sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and The Hospital for Sick Children.

Publications

Boydell, K.M. (2011). Using performative art to communicate research: Dancing experiences of psychosis. Canadian Theatre Review. 146:12-17

Boydell, K.M. (2011). Making sense of collective events: the co-creation of a research-based dance.Forum Qualitative Sozialforchung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 12(1), Art. 5, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110155

Peirson, L., Boydell, K.M., Ferguson, H.B and Ferris. L. (2011). An ecological process model of systems change. American Journal of Community Psychology. 47(3-4):307-21

Pignatiello, A., Teshima, J., Boydell, K.M., Minden, D., Volpe, T. and Braunberger, P. (2011). Child and Youth Telepsychiatry in Rural and Remote Primary Care. Child Adolesc Psychiatric Clin N Am. 20:13-28

Addington, J., Epstein, I., Liu, L., French, P., Boydell, K.M. and Zipursky, R. (2011).  A Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Individuals at Clinical High Risk of Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 125(1):54-61

Caine, V. and Boydell, K.M. (2010). Composing lives: Listening and responding to marginalized youth. Education Canada. 50(5):42-45

Nicholas, D.B., Lach, L., King, G., Scott, M., Boydell, K.M., Sawatsky, B., Reisman, J., Schippel, E., & Young, N.L. (2010). Contrasting Internet and traditional focus groups: Outcomes and participant experiences among children with spina bifida, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 9(1):105-121

Romano, D., McCay, E., Goering, P. Boydell, K.M. and Zipursky, R. (2010). Reshaping an enduring sense of self: The process of recovery from a first episode of schizophrenia. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 4(3):243-250

Boydell, K.M., Stasiulis, E., Volpe, T. and Gladstone, B. (2010). A descriptive review of qualitative inquiry in early psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry.

Boydell, K.M., Volpe, T. and Pignatiello, A. (2010). A qualitative study of young people’s perspectives on receiving paediatric telepsychiatry. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 19(1):5-11

Chalal, N., Yeung, R., Boydell, K.M., McCrindle, B., Manlhiot, C., Clarizia, N. and Obadia, M. (2010). Parental anxiety associated with Kawasaki disease in previously healthy children. Journal of Pediatric Health Care.

Young N, Barden W, Mills W, Law M. and Boydell K.M. (2009).  Transition to Adult-Oriented Health Care: Key Messages from Youth and Adults with Chronic and Complex Physical Disabilities of Childhood. Journal of Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics. 29(4): 345-361

Barwick, M.A., Peters, J. & Boydell, K.M. (2009). Getting to uptake: Do communities of practice support the implementation of evidence- based practice? Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 18(1), 16-29

Pignatiello, A., Boydell, K.M., Teshima, J. and Volpe, T. (2008). Supporting primary care through pediatric telepsychiatry. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. 27(2):139-151

Boydell, K.M., Stasiulis, E., Barwick, M., Greenberg, N. and Pong, R. (2008). Challenges of knowledge translation in rural communities: The case of rural children’s mental health.  Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. 27(1):49-63.

Boydell, K.M., Stasiulis, E., Greenberg, M., Greenberg, C. and Speigler, B. (2008). I’ll show   them: The social construction of (in)competence in childhood cancer survivors. Journal of Paediatric Oncology Nursing.25(3):164-174

Goering, P., Boydell, K.M. and Pignatiello, T. (2008). The relevance of qualitative research for clinical programs in psychiatry. Invited paper. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.53(3):145-151

Charach, A., Volpe, T. Boydell, K.M. and Gearing, R. (2008). A theoretical approach to medication adherence for children and youth with psychiatric disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 16(2):126-135.

Barwick, M., Boydell, K.M., Stasiulis, E., Ferguson, H.B., Blasé, K. and Fixen, D. (2008). Research Utilization among executive directors and practitioners in children’s mental health. Implementation Science. 3:19