Deusto hosts international event on child and adolescent mental health featuring renowned Professor Pim Cuijpers

The University of Deusto hosted the international event “Promoting Mental Health in Children and Adolescents: Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention,” which took place on 5 June in the Barandiarán Room on the Bilbao campus. The event was part of the European Horizon Europe IMPROVA project, involving a research team co-led by Rocío García Carrión, focused on designing and validating a digital intervention to promote mental health among minors in European schools.

The event was attended by Professor Pim Cuijpers, one of the world's leading experts in prevention and psychological interventions in youth mental health, who gave a keynote lecture entitled "Prevention and Treatment of Depression in Children and Adolescents". Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Dissemination of Psychological Interventions at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. With over 1,300 scientific publications, he was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and was recently awarded the 2024 APA award for distinguished professional contributions to applied research.

During the event, the IMPROVA programme was also presented, an innovative digital intervention co-designed with the educational community, which combined face-to-face classroom modules and online content to strengthen emotional well-being in children and adolescents aged 12 to 18. This initiative had already been implemented with more than 7,000 students in Spain, France, Germany and Romania.

The meeting was led by Rodrigo Antunes Lima, scientific coordinator of the IMPROVA project and researcher at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu (CIBERSAM), as well as principal investigator of the European ePro-Schools project, aimed at promoting youth health and well-being through science-based digital interventions.

The event, which was held in English, was aimed at the scientific community, both local and international, and could also be followed online. Attendance was free of charge, but registration was required.