During his meeting, Luis Joaquín García presented the keys to initiatives such as PROCARE, PROADEMO and the progress made in the development of a roadmap for 2025 within the framework of the PROEMO network to address the current shortcomings in this area.
20/11/2023.- The professor of the University of Jaén (UJA) and head of the PROEMO Network, Luis Joaquín García, met with representatives of the Provincial Council of Jaén to analyze channels of collaboration in the promotion of health and emotional well-being of young people in Jaén.
Specifically, Luis Joaquin Garcia held a working meeting with Francisca Medina, first vice president of the Provincial Council of Jaen, Maria Dolores Ruiz, deputy of Equality and Youth, and Dolores de la Hoz, Pilar Lopez, Pablo Garcia and Josefa Moral, technical staff of the area of Social Policy, Equality and Youth of the provincial body. Along with them, also attended Antonio Lara, as president of the Provincial Association of Youth Technicians DINAMIA.
First, the UJA professor explained in depth the benefits of the PROCARE initiative (PID 2019-111138RB-I00), a pioneer worldwide in the field of prevention and personalized medicine, which is beginning to be implemented in the municipality of Marmolejo, Jaén.
In his presentation, he broke down the positive results obtained in 2021 at national level and in 2023 in the Balearic Islands, thanks to the first selective prevention program aimed at adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age at risk of suffering emotional problems. Among others, the reduction of emotional distress, the reduction of the risk of developing a future problem and the increase in quality of life and resilience in the face of adversity stand out.
Subsequently, Luis Joaquín García explained the objectives of PROADEMO (‘PROmocionAnDo la salud y el bienestar EMOcional de los adolescentes en el sector educativo, sanitario y la sociedad’), led by the University of Jaén. It is a project that aims to develop useful materials and tools for educational, health and youth information personnel, as well as for the adolescents themselves, with the aim of improving the quality of the services offered in the field of adolescent emotional wellbeing and increasing emotional literacy.
He also informed them about the progress of the PROEMO Network (RED2022-134247-T), led by the UJA and with the participation of a total of seven public and private universities from different parts of Spain. Its main objective is the development of a report and roadmap for 2025, aimed at detecting current gaps and providing recommendations for the promotion of health and emotional well-being of adolescents, based on the strategic document “Report and Roadmap on the current state, needs and recommendations for the improvement of psychological assessment and the promotion of health and emotional well-being in young people”, carried out by the PROEM Network in 2018.
All of them are research projects that have public funding at European level (Funds “Next Generation EU” within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan) and national level (Ministry of Science and Innovation and State Research Agency).
For its part, the Provincial Council of Jaen showed its willingness to study the feasibility of implementing the PROCARE initiative at provincial level, with the intention of extending its impact to all adolescent citizens of the province. In addition, it was agreed the participation of personnel belonging to the area of Social Policies, Equality and Youth in the first phase of PROADEMO (PDC2022-133401-I00) and the PROEMO roadmap, to contribute with their perspective and experience in the collection of information about the current situation of mental health of young people.
