Luis Joaquín García, Lourdes Espinosa and José Antonio Muela present the results of three initiatives to promote emotional well-being in young people: PROCARE, DAREMOS and Digitas.
17/11/2022.- The main responsible of the projects PROCARE, DAREMOS and Digitas, led by the University of Jaén (UJA), and the Deputy of Youth Pilar Lara met yesterday at the Campus de las Lagunillas to address strategies and alliances that allow them to work together to improve the mental health of young people in the province.
UJA Psychology Department researchers Luis Joaquín García, Lourdes Espinosa and José Antonio Muela presented the results of the initiatives to promote emotional well-being DAREMOS, PROCARE and Digitas in a meeting that was also attended by Antonio Lara, president of the Provincial Association of Youth Workers “Dinamia”, and Lola de la Hoz, technical staff of the Youth area of the Provincial Council of Jaén.
During the meeting, the UJA researchers explained the importance of DAREMOS, a pioneering worldwide interdisciplinary initiative focused on the early identification of adolescents at high risk of developing emotional problems.
Likewise, they explained the keys of PROCARE, the first transdiagnostic initiative of selective prevention at international level that has demonstrated its efficacy in the intervention of adolescents at risk (PROCARE+) and at high risk (PROCARE-I) of developing emotional problems such as anxiety or depression.
They also developed the operation of the Digitas project, a digital tool for the transfer of content and resources to address anxiety disorders and other emotional problems in young people.
For her part, Pilar Lara expressed “the interest and concern of the Diputación Provincial de Jaén in the problems caused by the growing number of adolescents suffering from emotional problems such as anxiety and depression”.
In this sense, the Youth area of the Provincial Council, through the Jaenícolas brand, and UJA researchers laid the groundwork for the organization of an interdisciplinary training course to detect children and adolescents at risk of emotional problems for professionals in the field of youth.
In addition, the Deputy of Youth undertook to study the technical and budgetary feasibility of the implementation of the PROCARE+ initiative in favor of adolescents from Jaén who are at risk of suffering from such problems, with the support of the Provincial Council of Jaén and the City Council of Marmolejo, whose municipal corporation is also part of.
“The implementation of PROCARE will contribute to improving the emotional well-being of young people in the province who are developing these types of problems,” said Luis Joaquín García. “Thanks to the work team of the UJA, the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the University of Miami, it has been shown to help reduce emotional distress and the risk of developing a future emotional problem. In addition, PROCARE increases quality of life, resilience and emotional strength, and the ability to manage intense emotions,” concluded the UJA professor.
PROCARE and DAREMOS have the institutional support of the Instituto de la Juventud (INJUVE) of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, the Asociación Española de Ayuda Mutua contra Fobia Social y Trastornos de Ansiedad (AMTAES), the Confederación de Organizaciones de Psicopedagogía y Orientación de España (COPOE), the Consejo de la Juventud de España (CJE) and the Youth group of the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Trans, Bisexuales, Intersexuales y más (FELGTBI+), which are part of the External Advisory Board of both projects.
The DAREMOS project (1260378) has been co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Ministry of Economy and Knowledge of the Andalusian Regional Government; while the PROCARE project (PID 2019-111138RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) has been funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
