Maite Garaigordobil Landazabal has been a Doctor of Psychology since 1992, a specialist in Clinical Psychology since 2004, and Professor of Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis since 2009 at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). After a lifetime dedicated to teaching and research in psychology, in September 2020 it was time for her retirement.
Throughout much of his career, his teaching and research activity has revolved around issues related to psychological intervention in clinical and educational contexts and the development of psychological assessment instruments for children, adolescents and adults.
Psychological Intervention Programs for educational and clinical contexts.
Of the contributions to child and adolescent intervention, the creation of 6 psychological intervention programs is worth mentioning. Within a line of intervention in socioemotional development, she has created four cooperative game programs, “Game Programs”, which are linked to a psychological intervention program with adolescents. These programs have been experimentally validated, demonstrating their effectiveness in promoting socioemotional development and preventing violence in childhood and adolescence, having received several research awards. Her manuals are published by Editorial Pirámide (Madrid, 2003-2008).
In connection with this line of prevention-intervention, she has created “Cyberprogram 2.0. Un programa de intervención para prevenir y reducir el bullying y cyberbullying durante la adolescencia (Madrid: Pirámide, 2014), which is complemented by an online video-game “Cybereduca cooperativo 2.0” (2016) to prevent bullying and cyberbullying from school and family, freely accessible at the following address: www.cybereduca.com. The antibullying intervention proposal is completed with the theoretical foundation manual “Bullying and Cyberbullying: Assessment, prevention and intervention strategies (Barcelona, UOC, 2019).
Recently, with other members of the research group, she has designed a program for the prevention of childhood depression (Pozik Bizi – Vivir Feliz – Program for the improvement of emotions and depressive symptoms in children aged 8 to 10 years, published by the UPV (2020)).
Likewise, since its creation, it has been a member of the Interdisciplinary Research Network for the Promotion of Mental Health and Emotional Well-being in Young People (RED PROEM).
Evaluation instruments
Maite Garaigordobil has constructed 37 instruments, among the most recent ones: T2F. Test of the Drawing of the 2 Human Figures. Maturative-mental and emotional evaluation (TEA, 2009); LAEA. List of Adjectives for the Evaluation of Self-Concept (TEA, 2011); SPECI. Screening of Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Children (TEA, 2012); Cyberbullying. Peer Bullying Screening. Assessment of bullying) and Cyberbullying (TEA, 2013), and the Scale of risk of addiction-adolescent addiction to social networks and internet (RPCNA, 2018).
Research Projects
She has led numerous research projects funded by national and international agencies, especially on socioemotional competencies, sexism, cyberbulling, depression and LGBT-Phobic bullying.
In addition, since 2007 she has coordinated the Consolidated Research Group “Psychological Assessment: Design of instruments, evaluation of intervention programs and epidemiological applications” funded by the Dept. of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government.
Premios de investigación
Entre otros, Maite Garaigordobil ha sido galardonada con el Primer Premio Nacional de Investigación Educativa en 1994 “Evaluación de una intervención psicoeducativa en sus efectos sobre la conducta prosocial y la creatividad en niños de 2º ciclo de Educación Primaria” y en 2003 “Diseño y evaluación de un programa de intervención socioemocional para promover la conducta prosocial y prevenir la violencia” concedidos por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. En 2012 recibió el Premio Nicolás Seisdedos al mejor trabajo de Investigación en Evaluación Psicológica, por el estudio titulado “Conducta antisocial durante la adolescencia y la juventud: Diferencias en función de variables sociodemográficas, correlaciones con factores personales-familiares y variables predictoras” (Psicofundación del Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Psicólogos, 2012).
Research awards
Among others, Maite Garaigordobil has been awarded the First National Prize for Educational Research in 1994 “Evaluation of a psychoeducational intervention in its effects on prosocial behavior and creativity in children of 2nd cycle of Primary Education” and in 2003 “Design and evaluation of a socioemotional intervention program to promote prosocial behavior and prevent violence” granted by the Ministry of Education and Science. In 2012 he received the Nicolás Seisdedos Award for the best research work in Psychological Evaluation, for the study entitled “Antisocial behavior during adolescence and youth: Differences according to sociodemographic variables, correlations with personal-family factors and predictor variables” (Psicofundación del Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Psicólogos, 2012).
Publications
She is the author of 32 books, 67 book chapters and 191 research articles published in prestigious national and international journals. She has supervised 16 doctoral theses qualified with Cum Laude by Unanimity, and most of them have received extraordinary doctoral awards and research prizes. As a result of his research work, he has presented a total of 243 papers at national and international conferences.
In the field of knowledge transfer to society, and with the aim of disseminating the results of his research, she has given 121 conferences in summer courses, educational centers, public and private institutions, national and international universities; she has given more than 100 training courses aimed at Psychology and Education professionals (teachers, psychologists, counselors, social educators, social adaptation technicians) organized by different public and private organizations (pedagogical guidance centers of different Spanish communities, dept. of education, universities and research of the Basque Government; public and private schools and institutes; child protection services; town councils; child and youth mental health services; departments of education and culture-education and science; departments of education and culture-education and science). Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government; public and private schools and institutes; services for the protection of minors; city councils; child and adolescent mental health services; ministries of education and culture-education and science of Spanish communities; associations linked to health, universities in other countries…); and has participated in 72 radio programs, intervening in turn on 32 occasions in television programs.
As a result of this research and dissemination work, he has outstanding general indicators of quality of scientific production: 4 six-year research periods (1993-1999); (2000-2005); (2006-2011) (2012-1017); and a six-year period of knowledge transfer and innovation (2007-2015).
Respect, affection and professional admiration from her colleagues.
Now that she has just begun this new stage in her life that retirement entails, many colleagues in the profession and in the PROEM Network express in this article what Maite Garaigordobil has meant in the field of child and adolescent clinical psychology.
For Luis Joaquín García, head of the network, “sharing personal and professional moments with Maite has been one of the great joys that life has given me”. Likewise, he emphasizes that “her contribution to science and its transfer to society has allowed academics, parents, young people, counselors and other groups to have assessment tools and evidence-based emotional competency programs. All of this has marked a present and future for all of us who work for the health and emotional well-being of young people”. Finally, Luis Joaquín adds that “his retirement is not an end but a point and a continuation. Undoubtedly, her work capacity will allow us to benefit from her experience and wisdom in other frameworks. On a personal level, I would like to highlight that Maite is a generous, humble and constant person with a capacity for dedication and infinite energy that make every moment I have shared and hope to continue sharing with her a moment to treasure”.
Antonio Cano, for his part, highlights “the outstanding social, professional and scientific recognition, for her simplicity, humility, great capacity for collaboration and work, as well as her high level of specialization in psychological assessment, in epidemiology of psychological harassment and cyberbullying in young people, especially girls, which has had a great impact on the scientific community”.
José Antonio Muela indicates that he met Maite after dealing with M. Garaigordobil and her work. “To the quality of her articles and books I had to add the human warmth and closeness with which she treated me from our first meeting. Since then, whenever we have coincided in congresses and scientific meetings, as well as the times we have had to communicate for work reasons, I have always felt her as that relative we see only in celebrations but for whom we feel a great affinity and affection,” she says. “She is a great psychologist and an endearing person, to whom we have to thank for all her teachings,” he concludes.
Juan Antonio Moriana explains that since he was a student, he had worked with her texts, Maite being a ‘distance’ teacher for many of us. “Then when I later met her, first at congresses and then a little more closely in the activities of the group I found that not only her contributions are exceptional, but her way of explaining, transmitting and the passion she puts into her work make her worthy of our greatest admiration,” he says. “She is also one of those people with a wise, simple charisma, full of closeness and kindness, at the same level as her knowledge,” she adds.
For Josefa Canals, “Maite Garaigordobil, Maite has been one of the pioneers and referents in Spain in the field of child and adolescent clinical psychology. She has dealt with innovative topics of high scientific and clinical interest”. At the same time, she tells us, “my personal relationship with her has been recent, but her closeness and generosity has made her not only a colleague, but also a friend”.
Meanwhile, José Antonio Piqueras describes Maite Garaigordobil, “as usually happens among the great figures and the most notable in a discipline, as excellence in the professional and the personal. Professionally, innovation, progress, vanguard, master; personally, simplicity, closeness, humility and honesty”.
Lourdes Espinosa admires Maite Garaigordobil as “a professional from whom I have learned and continue to learn with each of her scientific contributions”. “Admiration that increased tenfold when I got to know her as a person because of her simplicity, humility, generosity and closeness,” she says. “From these lines, I thank her for contributing to the advancement of psychology and for making us better people to those of us who have been lucky enough to know her.”
Finally, Esther Calvete places Maite as “one of the most relevant and influential researchers today in the field of interventions in childhood and adolescence both nationally and internationally”. She adds that “Maite is an inspiration. Not only is she excellent in her research and teaching work, but also personally she is close, facilitating, generous and honest. I feel very fortunate to have been able to collaborate with Maite and I hope to continue doing so for a long time!
We, from the PROEM Network, also feel fortunate to have Maite among our members and we hope to continue counting on her exceptional collaboration in the new stage of her life that has just begun.
