Lourdes Espinosa-Fernández

The purpose of this instrumental psychometric study was to carry out the cultural adaptation and validation of the Expressed Emotion Measure children’s version E5-vh in 503 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years old, from the five regions of Colombia. The findings indicate that the content validation through expert judgment suggested adjustments in the wording of the items and revealed the need to eliminate item 8, while the reliability analysis showed the internal consistency and unidimensionality of the instrument, with an increase in the Cronbach’s alpha value to 0.7 when items 6 and 8 were eliminated. The construct validation through Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis with independent samples indicated that the best model was the one composed of a single factor with 6 associated items. It is concluded that this is an evaluation measure with good psychometric properties that can be used for the evaluation and follow-up of Colombian adolescents’ perception of their parents’ levels of expressed emotion.

Background/Objectives: In adolescence, anxiety disorders are the most prevalent, besides being highly comorbid, with a tendency to chronicity and persistence in adulthood; although there are different assessment measures with good psychometric properties, in Colombia there are no instruments that include the new international diagnostic classifications, aspects that may hinder accurate diagnosis and consequent care. This psychometric study aimed to adapt and validate the Anxiety Scale for Adolescents YAM-5, part I. Methods: A review of the items of the instrument was carried out, seeking to identify possible difficulties in the use of terms according to the culture; a sample of 536 adolescents linked to different public and private educational institutions from the five regions of the country was applied. The analysis of the instrument was based on the analysis of its reliability by means of Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient, the construct validity by means of the Exploratory Factor Analysis using the principal components method, and, finally, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis using the Structural Equations technique. Results: An internal consistency of 0.93 and a structural validity with a construct of five correlated dimensions were identified, which best fitted the data collected. Conclusions: The structure examined provides high reliability and structural validity, highlighting benefits such as being of screening type, its low cost, and application aimed at non-clinical populations from the perspective of Colombian adolescents.

Introduction: Psychological treatments are becoming an increasingly important component of medical healthcare, as a growing number of people seek treatment for a wide range of mental health problems. While these treatments are known to be effective, much remains to be understood about their mechanisms and reasons for effectiveness. The study of statistical mediators is crucial in psychological research, as it is fundamental to understanding how psychological factors influence health, well-being, and human behavior, and thus to designing effective psychological interventions. Aim: This study investigates the role of resilience as a treatment mediator in PROCARE+, a brief transdiagnostic, personalized protocol for the selective prevention of emotional disorders in adolescents. This approach has proven effective for young people at risk of developing emotional issues. Method: We used simple mediation models in a sample of 153 adolescents to assess the impact of interventions on resilience. Outcome variables included self-reported and parent-reported emotional risk, mood, anxiety symptoms, and quality of life. Discussion: The results of this study provide valuable information on how PROCARE+ works and how to improve its effectiveness, pointing to resilience as a key mediator in reducing the risk of developing emotional disorders and improving quality of life.

It can be challenging to assign patients to the appropriate intervention programs, as risk and protective factors for developing emotional disorders are multiple and shared across disorders. This study aimed to provide a theoretical and empirical approach to identify and categorise adolescents into different levels of severity. The risk of developing emotional symptoms was assessed in 1425 Spanish adolescents ( M = 14.34, SD = 1.76; 59.9% women). Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify subgroups based on their emotional symptom severity, risk, and resilience factors. Results revealed four profiles: at low risk (emotionally healthy), moderate risk (for selective interventions), high risk (for indicated interventions), and severe risk (for clinical referral). Older age and especially female gender were predictors of higher risk clusters, and there were differences in the levels of psychopathology and health-related quality of life across clusters. Identification of at-risk adolescents for emotional disorders by means of LPA may contribute to designing personalised and tailored prevention programs that match adolescents’ specific needs.

Significant evidence does exist on the effectiveness of transdiagnostic interventions to improve emotional problems in clinical populations, and their application as universal and indicated prevention programs. However, no randomized controlled trials (RCT) studying selective transdiagnostic prevention intervention have been published. This is the first known RCT to evaluate the efficacy/effectiveness of an evidence-based selective prevention transdiagnostic program for emotional problems in adolescents. The impact of three different interventions was evaluated: (1) PROCARE (Preventive transdiagnostic intervention for Adolescents at Risk for Emotional disorders), which is a group-based, abbreviated version of the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adolescents (UP-A), along with adding a booster session to reduce risk of onset of anxiety and depression, (2) PROCARE + , which includes the PROCARE protocol along with personalized add-on modules tailored to match adolescents’ risk factors, and (3) an active control condition (ACC) based on emotional psychoeducation. In total, 208 adolescents (48.5% girls) evidencing high risk and low protective factors were randomized and allocated to PROCARE, PROCARE + or ACC. Data from 153 adolescents who completed all assessments in the different phases of the study were analyzed. Self- and parent-reported measures were taken at baseline, as well as after the intervention, a 6 month follow-up was carried out, together with a 1 month follow-up after the booster session. Differences between conditions were significant on most of the outcome measures, with superior effect sizes for PROCARE + in the short and long term. Interventions were acceptable in terms of acceptability, with good satisfaction rates. Tailored targeted selective transdiagnostic interventions focused on mitigating risk factors and promoting protective factors in vulnerable adolescents are promising.

A inibição comportamental (IC) é um traço de temperamento caracterizado por medo extremo face a situações novas. A IC tem sido associada ao desenvolvimento de perturbações mentais. No entanto, é escassa a investigação que examina as características socio-emocionais e comportamentais de crianças com inibição comportamental em contextos educacionais e familiares. Para uma visão global mais compreensiva e aprofundada do comportamento da criança em cada um destes contextos, este estudo recolheu dados com os pais (mãe e pai – contexto familiar) e com os professores (contexto educacional). A amostra foi constituída por 109 crianças, entre os quatro e os seis anos de idade. Foi utilizada uma abordagem com múltiplos informadores: todos os pais, mães e professores completaram as Escalas de Inibição Comportamental para o Pré-Escolar, o Questionário de Comportamento da Criança para pais e professores (CBCL e TRF), e o Sistema de Avaliação do Comportamento para Crianças e Adolescentes (BASC). Os resultados revelaram que crianças consideradas com IC apresentavam níveis mais baixos de ajustamento socio-emocional e comportamental comparativamente a crianças não inibidas, tanto no contexto familiar como no contexto educacional. Adicionalmente, a variável de timidez pareceu ser a que mais fortemente se associou à inibição comportamental, independentemente do informador e do contexto.

Previous research has suggested the association between behavioral inhibition (BI) and the development of social anxiety disorder in childhood. However, there is scarce research using longitudinal methodology in Spanish-speaking populations. To cover this gap, the sample comprised 73 children ranging from six to eight years who had been examined for BI two years earlier in home and school settings. Children and their parents were administered the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5-Child and Parent Versions to assess the presence of possible anxiety disorders. The results revealed the stability of BI symptomatology over time. Data also showed that BI children were almost ten times more likely to develop social anxiety disorder two years later, compared to no-BI children. As a result, findings suggest behavioral inhibition strongly predicts social anxiety disorder, making BI a logical focus for selective preventive interventions. Therefore, screening for behavioral inhibition holds promise for primary prevention.