Christina Papadimitriou P.h.D.
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Current Research

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Christina Papadimitriou, Ph.D.
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Professor
Interdisciplinary Health Sciences and Sociology
Oakland University
Rochester, Michigan, USA
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Director:
Hermeneutic Resources
Advanced Metrics Lab
School of Medicine and Health Sciences
George Washington University
Washington, D.C.

advancedmetricslab.smhs.gwu.edu/lab-members-collaborators

Research Perspective

 I conduct field-based human subject research using interdisciplinary training in sociology and health services research. All of my work is inter-professional, and I collaborate with a diverse group of health professionals, care partners, and persons with disabilities.
My scholarship aims to explicate all types of assumptions that we take for granted about what it means to live with disability in society. This requires re-thinking disability-related medical rehabilitation. It is challenging and thought-provoking. The lenses my associates and I use are inspired by phenomenology, social justice and equity, and disability studies.


Among my most cited work, and the work that has drawn the most international attention, include efforts to conceptually expand our understanding of disability rehabilitation and challenge the rehabilitation canon.

The concepts of en-wheeling,
temporal, and existential disruption, combine philosophy and social science perspectives to suggest that-
a) Disability is part of human diversity,
b) And, that our professional and disciplinary blinders prevent us from treating persons with disabilities as fully human.

My work seeks to expand rehabilitation (what we can do) to include re-habituation (who we are).


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Standardized Process Assessment Relationship-Centered Shared decision-making

This research study seeks to understand how healthcare professionals and care partners make decisions together for persons with high support needs due to cognitive and communication disabilities. This will be done by developing an assessment, Standardized Process Assessment of Relationship-Centered Shared decision-making (SPARCSdm). This assessment will be used within various clinical encounters, care settings, and populations.
Shared decision-making (SDM) is a collaborative process in which patients and healthcare professionals work together to make healthcare decisions informed by science and the patient's values and preferences. The SDM process is unique for patients who cannot advocate for themselves because it involves choices that are recurrent, may not have clear supportive evidence, and are made by care partners who speak for their loved ones and themselves. Currently, available SDM assessments are not designed to capture these complexities.


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Our Peers-Empowerment and Navigation Support Intervention (OP-ENS)
I have been the co-Principal Investigator of a 5-year National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)-funded grant. This entailed developing, implementing, and evaluating a year-long peer health navigator intervention in Chicago, IL. The work, part of a center grant, focuses on the development of a peer health navigation intervention to help Medicaid beneficiaries with physical disabilities overcome barriers to preventative and primary care. This project is part of a center grant on health and function, which is housed at the  Shirley Ryan Ability Lab   (formerly The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), Northwestern University, and University of Illinois, Chicago campus. Dr. Susan Magasi (at UIC) is the Principal Investigator.


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"No One Listens to Me”: Understanding Recovery When Patients Cannot Speak for Themselves
I was the co-lead for a 2-year project with the American Institute for Research with Dr. Trudy Mallinson on person-centered measurement. “No One Listens to Me”: Understanding Recovery When Patients Cannot Speak for Themselves. This project team of researchers and caregivers advanced knowledge of what constitutes meaningful recovery in unconscious adults who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. The team developed a patient- and caregiver-centered strategy for creating meaningful indicators of change during rehabilitation. The team designed indicators that promote transparent, shared decision-making by facilitating conversations between clinicians and caregivers on behalf of vulnerable patients who cannot advocate for themselves during recovery.


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Clinicians' Sense-Making When Working With Patients in Disordered States of Consciousness Following Brain Injury
I am co-Investigator in a Joint Warfighter project lead by Dr. Theresa Bender Pape to study how rehabilitation clinicians understand neuro-behavioral change when working with their patients in disordered states of consciousness following brain injury.

© COPYRIGHT 2025 Christina Papadimitriou, Ph.D.  
  • HOME
  • CURRENT RESEARCH
    • SPARCdm
    • OUR PEERS-EMPOWERMENT
    • NO ONE LISTENS TO ME
    • CLINICIAN'S SENSE-MAKING
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • Definitions
    • Phenomenology
    • SJ & Equity