Luis Joaquín García and Lourdes Espinosa presented this pioneering project in the field of health prevention and emotional well-being of young people, and others they lead such as the roadmap of the PROEMO Network, PROADEMO or DIGITAS, in an event organized by the Provincial Council of Córdoba.
5/06/2024.- Researchers from the University of Jaén (UJA) and the PROEMO Network, Luis Joaquín García and Lourdes Espinosa, participated on May 16 in the II Conference ‘Youth and Health: between risks and opportunities’, organized by the Provincial Council of Córdoba, through the Delegation of Technological Development, Digital Transformation and Youth, and the Addictions Unit of the Provincial Institute of Social Welfare (IPBS).
Specifically, the UJA researchers, who were accompanied by Alberto Tejeda, head of the Department of Youth and Sports of the Provincial Council of Cordoba, addressed the benefits of the PROCARE initiative, the first transdiagnostic program of selective prevention at international level aimed at young people aged between 12 and 18 years at risk of suffering emotional problems. An initiative that in 2021 helped more than 1,500 adolescents throughout Spain, and in 2023 contributed to improving the emotional health of more than a thousand young people in the Balearic Islands. It is currently being implemented in the Jaén municipality of Marmolejo and in different parts of the province of Jaén thanks to funding from the Provincial Council of Jaén. In his speech, Alberto Tejeda expressed the concern of the Provincial Council of Cordoba for the mental health and emotional well-being of adolescents from Cordoba and committed himself to the evaluation of the possible implementation of PROCARE in his province.
This initiative is supported by the experience of PROCARE, 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), with the participation of professionals from the Psychology Department 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 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.
In addition, both Luis Joaquín García and Lourdes Espinosa presented the keys to the roadmap of the PROEMO Network (RED2022-134247-T funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), which is led by the University of Jaén and aims to update the work carried out by the PROEM Network in 2018 in terms of detecting gaps and providing recommendations to improve the health and emotional well-being of young people.
Along with this, they presented the DIGITAS project (PDC2021-121882-100) funded by MICIU/AE/10.13039/501100011033 and which aims to enhance literacy in adolescent mental health, through the creation of videos, podcasts or documentaries, among other tools. Among its objectives is the dissemination of available knowledge through different audiovisual resources and putting this knowledge into practice in order to improve behaviors and reduce stigmas; and the PROADEMO project (PDC2022-133401 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), based on the creation of 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 their emotional literacy.
This conference is a meeting point for professionals, families and young people to learn about the resources available to community social services when acting and assessing risks. One of their objectives was to stress the importance of establishing and implementing prevention strategies for young people related to consumption or problematic behaviors. The informative and educational event also included the conferences “Building and accompanying mental health in adolescence”, by psychologist, educator and journalist, Jaume Funes; and “Ok Boomer: building intergenerational bridges with Generation Z”, by Isabel Duque, from Psico Woman. In addition, there was a round table on the perspective of young people, which addressed the accompaniment in youth organizational processes from the educational center and the relationship between young people, values and Europe.
