Foster long-term well-being in pre-adolescent children and their families (FLOW)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Svenja Taubner
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology ; Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 539850647

Well-being is defined as a dynamic multidimensional construct and is dependent on the integration of an individual’s resources and environmental challenges. The project FLOW targets children (8 years), their parents, and adults involved in education in a longitudinal cohort design with stepwise prevention from universal to indicated prevention. The universal prevention in primary schools informs children, parents and teachers about mental health and peer-helping-skills. Flow aims at a sample of 4000 children from 4 countries (Germany, Lithuania, Spain and Switzerland) who are followed for 1.5 years to assess changes in mental health and psychological regulation. Parents (n=6000) are invited to report on their children and themselves including risk factors for poor mental health. In the second step, families with moderate risk are invited to a selective prevention program. Parents are randomized to an intervention group (parent skills training) fostering psychological regulation skills (mentalizing, attention control, emotion regulation) or to an active supportive control group. In parallel, families with high risk for poor mental health are invited to an indicative prevention program and are randomized into an intervention group (reflective parenting program for parents) or a supportive group. Teachers (n=200) are also given a selective prevention program if they have a risk of school bullying and negative classroom climate. The triple prevention method using a randomized design will give causal information on the question of how critical psychological regulation mechanisms are for developing wellbeing and if programs that foster psychological mechanisms are effective in preventing the onset of mental health problems and increase well-being. By involving important stakeholders in as well as an massive open online course, Flow will provide sustainable results to facilitate well-being in the target group of children, their families and schools.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Rasa Barkauskiene; Professor Martin Debbané, Ph.D.; Professor Eduardo Fonseca, Ph.D.