Speaker
Presentation in English
ANNETTE LA GRECA
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI. UNITED STATES
Annette La Greca is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami. Throughout her career, her research has focused on understanding “risk and resilience” factors in youths’ physical and mental health and translating findings into resilience-building interventions. This work is exemplified by her research on the impact of adolescents’ peer relations (including peer and cyber victimization) on their feelings of social anxiety and depression, and on the impact of natural disasters on youth and parents’ psychological and physical health.
La Greca was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to develop and evaluate a school-based preventive intervention (UTalk) for adolescents reporting interpersonal peer victimization and elevated symptoms of depression or social anxiety. In the trauma area, she studied youth risk and resilience following extreme weather-related disasters, including Hurricanes Andrew (1992), Charley (2004), Ike (2008), and Irma (2017). She is the lead author on a series of evidence-informed interactive adult-child manuals to help youth recover and build resilience after disasters, including After the Storm: A Guide to Help Children Cope in the Aftermath of Hurricanes, Helping Children Cope with COVID-19, and Youth Strong to promote youth mental health after disasters and other traumatic events. These materials are available on her lab website (https://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/alagreca/); over 40 million copies of the manuals have been distributed worldwide.
Overall, La Greca has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and written or edited 19 books. Her work has been supported by the NIMH and foundations such as BellSouth and the United Way. She served as Editor-in-Chief of key journals, including the Journal of Pediatric Psychology and the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Currently, she is Associate Editor for the American Psychologist.
School-Based Treatment and Prevention Programs: Strategies for Addressing Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents and Young Children
Adolescence is a critical period of development, and mental health challenges during this time significantly impact an individual’s well-being in adulthood. The most common mental health concerns for adolescents include anxiety disorders and depression, which have been on the rise in recent years. Yet, access to mental health services is a significant problem. Consequently, efforts to increase access to care through school-based mental health services have become especially important. The current symposium focuses on several school-based efforts to treat or prevent anxiety, depression, or emotional disorders in youth.
On the treatment side, Lampela will present results on the development of a brief, 10-session Developmentally Oriented Cognitive Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder (DOCT-SAD), which was delivered by school psychologists in secondary schools in Finland to 13-to-18-year-olds with social anxiety disorder. Next, Ranta will present results from a cross-national, government-funded project implementing Interpersonal Counseling for Adolescents (IPC-A) and Cool Kids interventions in the Finnish schools to 12-to-17-year-olds. The cross-national adaptation process for IPC-A will be discussed in the light of findings from dissemination and implementation science.
On the prevention side, La Greca will describe a school-based preventive intervention (UTalk) that was based on Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST). UTalk focused on adolescents, 14 – 18 years of age, who reported problems with peer victimization and subclinical levels of social anxiety or depression. Then, with a focus on very early prevention, Amorós will present the impact of a multi-session program designed to improve social abilities and emotional regulation in preschool-aged children. Results support the program’s effectiveness in fostering emotional skills, encouraging positive development, and reducing the likelihood of future emotional difficulties.
The symposium will conclude with a discussion by La Greca, summarizing key findings from the studies and addressing implementation challenges, while offering recommendations for advancing school-based mental health interventions in the future.
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