10 October 2023
Bilbao Campus
The Network of Excellence for the PROmotion of adolescent health and EMOtional well-being (PROEMO), led by the University of Jaén (UJA), which the University of Deusto, held its launch meeting on Tuesday 10 October, the date on which World Mental Health Day is commemorated internationally.
The meeting was attended by the entire PROEMO research team, made up of seven researchers from different public and private universities, including Deusto professor Esther Calvete. The group, headed by UJA professor Luis Joaquín García, is completed by Josefa Canals, professor at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona (URV); José Antonio Piqueras, professor at the Universidad Miguel Hernández in Elche (UMH); Inmaculada Gómez, professor at the University of Almería (UAL); Manuel Gámez, professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM); and Patricia Moreno, researcher at the University of Malaga and IBIMA-Bionand Platform.
PROEMO is a consortium that aims to join forces to promote adolescent health and emotional well-being. To this end, its main objective is to draw up a report and roadmap for 2025 to identify current gaps and provide recommendations that can help solve the identified issues. This paper will examine and update the findings of the strategic document "Report and Roadmap on the current status, needs and recommendations for the improvement of psychological assessment and the promotion of emotional health and well-being in young people", conducted as part of PROEMOTION-Y and PROEMA under the umbrella of the PROEM Network in 2018.
The aim of PROEMO is "to update the report and roadmap we carried out in 2018, which will provide information on anxiety and depression problems in young people and the short and long-term needs of adolescents with, or at risk of, emotional problems. This will help both young people themselves and their families, along with mental health organisations, policy makers and staff from the education, health and youth information sectors," says Luis Joaquín García. In this regard, the UJA professor highlighted the " great relevance that commemorative dates such as World Mental Health Day have on the media to raise awareness and sensitise civil society about the emotional plight suffered by a high percentage of our adolescents and young people in Spain".
The PROEMO Network also has an External Advisory Board composed of nine governmental, non-governmental and third sector entities at European, national and regional level: the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA), the Spanish Youth Institute (INJUVE), attached to the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, the Spanish Youth Council (CJE), the Princess of Girona Foundation (FPdGi), the Integral Health group of the FELGTBI+, the Confederación de Organizaciones de Psicopedagogía y Orientación de España (COPOE), the Asociación Española de Ayuda Mutua contra Fobia Social y Trastornos de Ansiedad (Amtaes), the Asociación Andaluza de Técnicos de Juventud (AATJ) and the Asociación Asturiana para la atención y el cuidado de la infancia (Asaci).
In this way, the research team and the External Advisory Board will work collaboratively on the development and drafting of a new strategy document that will include research and analysis of the data available after the Covid-19 pandemic, while incorporating the expertise of often overlooked groups in society, such as child mental health organisations, minorities, stakeholders and policy makers.
The PROEMO Network of Excellence (RED2022-134247-T), which was launched on 1 June and will run for the next two years, is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Spanish State Research Agency (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) through the State Programme to promote scientific and technical research and its transfer, within the framework of the Spanish National Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021-2023.
