The meeting was attended by technicians from the Social Services Area, the Casa de la Juventud and the ‘Martos ante las Drogas’ program with the aim of studying the feasibility of implementing this program for the prevention and promotion of health and emotional well-being of young people.
06/03/2024.- The team of the PROEMO Network of the University of Jaén (UJA) presented the PROCARE initiative (Selective prevention through a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at risk of emotional problems) to representatives of the City Council of Martos.
This telematic meeting was attended by the Professor of Psychology at the UJA and main responsible for the PROEMO Network and PROCARE, Luis Joaquín García, UJA researchers, José Antonio Muela, Lourdes Espinosa, David Jiménez, Laura Zafra and Jesús Sánchez, as well as Isabel Fernández, director of the Community Social Services area, María Castilla, social worker of the Family Treatment team, Isabel Higueras and Esther Villar, technicians of the Youth House, Emilio J. Lopez, technician of the Youth and Festivities area, and Pilar Martinez, psychologist of the program ‘Martos against Drugs’.
In this way, Luis JoaquÍn García explained the keys to PROCARE, the first transdiagnostic program of selective prevention at international level aimed at young people between 12 and 18 years of age at risk of suffering emotional problems. An initiative that in 2021 helped more than 1,500 adolescents throughout Spain, and in 2023 has contributed to improving the emotional health of more than a thousand young people in the Balearic Islands. It is currently being implemented in Marmolejo, a municipality in Jaén that is also part of the Participe+ Network.
“The results of the intervention carried out by experts indicate the drastic reduction of emotional problems, the improvement of the subjective quality of life and the greater regulation of emotions among the young participants, and the benefit for their families”, pointed out the UJA professor. In turn, Luis Joaquín García stressed the importance of prevention, especially in the field of child and adolescent mental health. “There is no health without mental health and there is no future without emotionally healthy young people. In that sense, a resilient society needs resilient citizens,” he concluded.
Next, researchers David Jiménez and Laura Zafra, coordinators of PROCARE Marmolejo, and José Antonio Muela and Lourdes Espinosa, responsible for the expressed emotion module dedicated to parents, delved into the development of the program, specifying each of the phases, from the initial screening, through the eight sessions, as well as the reminiscence session.
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For their part, representatives of the consistory marteño showed their concern and interest in mental health and emotional well-being of the young population of the municipality, especially adolescents. In that sense, they were called to study the feasibility of the implementation of this program of prevention and promotion of health and emotional well-being of young people for the benefit of adolescents marteños.
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 of the UJA, Rovira i Virgili University, Miguel Hernández University of Elche and 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.
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