The professor at the University of Jaén and head of the PROEM Network, Luis Joaquín García, presented the results to the provincial deputy of Ciudadanos, Ildefonso Ruiz.
17/11/2021.- The PROCARE initiative, which provides free help to schoolchildren at risk of suffering emotional problems, has contributed to the promotion of mental health and emotional well-being of a total of 20 young people between 12 and 18 years old and their families, who have participated in the intervention in recent months in the province of Jaén.
This is shown by the data of the action carried out by experts of the PROEM Network, led by the University of Jaén (UJA), through the first selective prevention program aimed at young people aged between 12 and 18 years at risk of suffering emotional problems in the current stage of psychosocial difficulties marked by the pandemic. Specifically, the results indicate the reduction of emotional problems, the improvement of the subjective quality of life and the regulation of emotions in the young participants, who in turn, have shown their satisfaction and acceptability after the implementation of PROCARE.
The UJA professor and main responsible of the PROEM Network, Luis Joaquín García, presented the results of the PROCARE initiative in the province of Jaén to Ildefonso Ruiz, provincial deputy of Ciudadanos in Jaén, and to Concha Azorit and Marcela Cobo, two of his collaborators in the Ciudadanos team at the provincial level.
After the meeting, Luis Joaquín García emphasized “the relevance of showing interest in the promotion of mental health and emotional well-being and suicide prevention, which in this stage of pandemic is becoming a serious problem for young people”. In turn, Luis Joaquín García insisted on “the need for training for educational and healthcare personnel so that they can identify early signs of emotional problems, which are the greatest contributor to suicide in young people and adolescents”.
For his part, Ildefonso Ruiz positively valued “the work carried out by the team of the PROCARE initiative, which has provided an ’emotional vaccine’ to a score of Jaén and their families in difficult times”. He also expressed “the commitment of Ciudadanos Jaén to work together with the PROEM Network in the development of strategies that allow schools to address emotional problems in young people at risk of suffering them in order to prevent their impact on suicidal behavior or self-harm”.
The PROCARE initiative is a nationwide project that involves professionals from the Psychology Department of the UJA, the Rovira i Virgili University, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the University of Miami (USA). In addition, the Youth Institute (INJUVE) of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, the Spanish Association of Mutual Help against Social Phobia and Anxiety Disorders (AMTAES), the Confederation of Organizations of Psychopedagogy and Guidance of Spain (COPOE), the LGTB Youth group of the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Trans and Bisexuals (FELGTB) and the Youth Council of Spain are part of the project’s External Advisory Council.
