Graduate Program Director
BScN (Queen's), MN (Toronto), PhD (Queen's)
Office: LHS C162
Phone: 705-748-1011, ext. 7067
Email: kimberlyritchie@trentu.ca
Biography
Dr. Ritchie has over 20 years of clinical and leadership experience in geriatrics and geriatric mental health. She completed a PhD in Rehabilitation Science at Queen's University, and a post-doctoral fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Margaret McKinnon and Dr. Ruth Lanius, in the Trauma and Recovery Lab at McMaster University. Dr. Ritchie's research has two foci. The first focusses on mental illness and wellbeing in older adults. Specifically, she has a specific interest in improving the care of older adults and Veterans who have experienced past trauma and also have dementia. The second, focusses on PTSD and moral injury in high-risk occupations, such as healthcare providers, public safety personnel, and Veterans. Dr. Ritchie teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and holds adjunct positions in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience at McMaster University and in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ontario Tech University.
Areas of Interest
Caring for older adults who are living with mental illness and dementia; PTSD/trauma/moral injury in healthcare professional; public safety personnel; Veterans
Current Research Projects
- Factors Affecting the well-being of Veterans who are living in long-term Care (PI)
- Understanding and characterizing the Impact of COVID-19 in healthcare professionals and public safety personnel (collabortor)
Selected Publications
Ritchie, K., Cramm, H., Aiken, A., Donnelly, C., & Goldie, K. (2022). Health care providers’ experience in learning to identify PTSD in Veterans with dementia. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 29(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12825
Ritchie, K., Cramm, H., Aiken, A., Donnelly, C., & Goldie, K. (2021). PTSD symptoms and dementia in older Veterans who are living in long-term care. Qualitative Health Research, 32(3), 504-519.
Ritchie, K., Cramm, H., Aiken, A., Donnelly, C., & Goldie, K. (2019). PTSD and dementia in Veterans – A scoping review. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 28, 1020-1034.
Karram, M., Ritchie, K., D’Alessandro, A.M., Brown, A., Xue, Y., Pichtikova, M., Altman, M., Beech, I., Millman, H., Levy, Y., Foster, F., Hassall, K., Hosseiny, F., Rodrigues, S., Heber, A., O’Connor, C., Schielke, H., Malain, A., Heber, A., Lanius, R.A., & McKinnon, M.C. (2023). A qualitative approach to understanding Canadian healthcare workers’ use of coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2551, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032551
D’Alessandro, A.M., Ritchie, K., Brown, A., Xue, Y., Pichtikova, M., Altman, M., Beech, I., Millman, H., Levy, Y., Foster, F., Hassall, K., Hosseiny, F., Rodrigues, S., Heber, A., O’Connor, C., Schielke, H., Malain, A., Lanius, R.A., McCabe, R.E., & McKinnon, M.C. (2023). Characterizing the mental health and functioning of Canadian respiratory therapists during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2171751
Patel, H., Easterbrook, B., D’Alessandro., A., Andrews, K., Ritchie, K., Hosseiny, F., Rodrigues, S., Malain, A., O’Connor, C., Schielke, H., McCabe, R., Nicholson, A., Lanius, R, & McKinnon., M. (2023). (In-Press). Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation. European Journal of Psychotraumatology.
Xue Y, Lopes L, Ritchie K., D’Alessandro AM, Banfield L, McCabe RE, Heber A, Lanius RA, McKinnon MC. (2022). Potential circumstances associated with moral injury and moral distress in healthcare workers and public safety personnel across the globe during COVID-19: A scoping review. Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.863232
D’Alessandro, A., McCabe, R., Ritchie, K., & McKinnon, M. (2022). Healthcare workers and COVID-19-related moral injury: A interpersonally-focused approach informed by PTSD. Frontiers in Psychology. 12:784523.
Supervision
- Accepting graduate students (2023-2024)
- Accepting honours thesis students (2023-2024)