University of Jaén researchers Luis Joaquín García, Lourdes Espinosa and Jesús Sánchez explained the keys to projects such as PROCARE, DIGITAS, PROADEMO, DAREMOS or Level Up and learned from Paco Rivero about the ‘Careflix’ platform.
23/4/2024.- Luis Joaquín García, professor at the University of Jaén (UJA) and head of the PROEMO Network, together with UJA researchers Lourdes Espinosa and Jesús Sánchez, held a working meeting yesterday with Paco Rivero, Director of Business Development and Innovation at Somos Bendit and Ambassador of Talent of the Princess of Girona Foundation.
The purpose of the meeting was to assess possible synergies between both teams, so that different initiatives such as the Careflix platform or interdisciplinary projects for the promotion of health and emotional well-being of young people, which are under the umbrella of the PROEMO Network, research network RED2022-134247-T funded by MICIU/AEI/10, were put in common. 13039/501100011033 (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the State Research Agency) through the State Program to promote scientific-technical research and its transfer, within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021-2023.
During the presentation, Luis Joaquín García addressed the keys to PROCARE (‘Selective prevention through a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at risk of emotional problems’), an R&D&I project PID 2019-111138RB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the State Research Agency). It is a pioneering initiative worldwide in the field of prevention and personalized medicine aimed at adolescents aged 12-18 years at risk of emotional problems.
In turn, Lourdes Espinosa explained the DIGITAS project, which seeks to promote literacy in adolescent mental health through the creation of videos, podcasts or sound fiction documentaries, among other tools. Among its objectives is the dissemination of the knowledge available through different audiovisual resources and the implementation of this knowledge in order to improve behavior and reduce stigmas.
Luis Joaquín García also stressed the objectives of PROADEMO (‘PROmocionAnDo la salud y el bienestar EMOcional de los adolescentes en el sector educativo, sanitario y la sociedad’), a PDC2022-133401-I00 project financed by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the State Research Agency and the European Union through the “Next Generation EU” funds within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan).
Its purpose is to create useful materials and tools for educational, health and youth information personnel, as well as for adolescents themselves, in order to improve the quality of the services offered in the field of adolescent emotional wellbeing and increase emotional literacy. In this sense, UJA researchers showed the progress made in the development of these materials in its version WP1, WP2.1 and WP 2.2.
Finally, the impact of other projects such as DAREMOS, focused on the early detection of adolescents at high risk of developing emotional problems such as anxiety or depression; or Level Up, led by a European consortium that aims to provide a new understanding of the transversal skills of higher education students, was explained.
Paco Rivero, for his part, explained what Careflix, a platform of personalized services and content specialized in mental health and emotional wellbeing, is all about. Specifically, he pointed out that “Careflix is a Netflix specialized in Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing for young people. It is the dream of a 27-year-old young man with a severe brain and spinal cord injury who, from learning about his experiences and needs, acquiring professional training for it and together with his mother, main caregiver and entrepreneur, have created this StartUp”.
Careflix is aimed at young people, chronic patients, vulnerable groups and their caregivers, families, as well as companies and wellness and health professionals and also “wants to contribute to solving the misinformation of Fake News, prevention as future protection, as well as assistance to chronic patients and their caregivers”.
Among the services offered by this platform is the streaming of mental health and emotional wellbeing content in the form of video clips; videoprospects of medications, prepared with the supervision of pharmaceutical laboratories to improve their understanding and use; online psychological support; online chat and rating, which allows users to ask questions and rate the contents of the platform. It also has an Advisory Board made up of a group of professionals from the world of medicine, health, pharmacology, wellness, as well as communication and technology.
In this sense, both teams agreed to assess the feasibility of collaborating in the different projects open in the medium term.
