Manuel Vivas, a new PhD from the University of Jaén, has carried out this relevant academic work through a randomized controlled trial for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years at risk of developing emotional disorders.
23/02/2024.- The implementation of PROCARE+ in young people aged 12 to 18 years at risk of suffering emotional problems reduces emotional symptoms and demonstrates the effectiveness of personalized modules and reinforcement sessions in psychological prevention.
This is indicated by the results of the doctoral thesis conducted by the researcher of the University of Jaén (UJA), Manuel Vivas, directed by Luis Joaquín García, Professor of Psychology at the UJA and main responsible for the PROEMO Network, and framed around the PROCARE initiative (Selective prevention through a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at risk of emotional problems).
The thesis, entitled ‘PROCARE+: A randomized controlled trial for adolescents at risk of developing emotional disorders through a personalized medicine model in the framework of selective preventive transdiagnostic intervention’, addresses the effectiveness of this program in the short, medium and long term in vulnerable adolescents, with special emphasis on the promotion of resilience from personalized medicine.
The thesis tribunal, defended last February 21 at the Campus Las Lagunillas of the UJA, was attended by the professor of the University of Jaén, José Antonio Muela, the professor of the University of Almería, Inmaculada Gómez, and the professor of the Columbus University of New York (USA), Anne Marie Albano.
The new Doctor in Psychology of the UJA, Manuel Vivas, has developed his scientific and research work in recent years around this project to promote the emotional health and well-being of young people.
PROCARE (PID 2019-111138RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) is a project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, with the participation of professionals from the Department of Psychology at UJA, Luis Joaquín García, José Antonio Muela and Lourdes Espinosa, Josefa Canals from Rovira i Virgili University, José Antonio Piqueras from Miguel Hernández University of Elche, and Jill Ehrenreich-May from the University of Miami (USA). In addition, the Instituto de la Juventud (INJUVE), attached to the Ministry of Youth and Children, 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 Youth group of the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Trans, Bisexuales, Intersexuales y más (FELGTBI+), the Consejo de la Juventud de España (CJE) and the Fundación Princesa de Girona are part of the project’s External Advisory Board.
The PROCARE initiative helped more than 1,500 adolescents throughout Spain in 2021, contributed to improving the emotional health of more than a thousand young people in the Balearic Islands in 2023, and is currently being implemented in the municipality of Marmolejo in Jaén.
