Speaker
Presentation in SpanishMARÍA PROVENCIO
CAMILO JOSÉ CELA UNIVERSITY. SPAIN
I hold a PhD in Clinical Psychology, I am a General Health Psychologist, and an accredited university lecturer at the level of Associate Professor. I have more than fifteen years of experience in the field of Clinical and Health Psychology, combining university teaching, research, and clinical practice in psychological assessment and intervention.
In the teaching field, I have taught courses in official undergraduate and master’s degree programs related to psychopathology, psychological assessment, clinical intervention with adults, children and adolescents, developmental psychology, and child and adolescent mental health. I have also participated in the academic coordination of postgraduate training in early intervention, as well as in the development of teaching materials, supervision of external placements, and supervision of undergraduate and master’s dissertations.
My research activity focuses on psychopathology, psychological assessment, and vulnerability, risk, and protective factors in mental health. In recent years, an important part of my work has focused on perinatal mental health, particularly in relation to depression, anxiety, trauma, psychosocial risk, and the early detection of emotional problems during pregnancy and the postpartum period. This line of research is directly connected to child mental health, as it considers the perinatal period a relevant stage for prevention and early developmental processes.
I also have specialized training in the assessment and clinical intervention of psychological disorders in childhood and adolescence, as well as in perinatal mental health. My professional trajectory is oriented toward prevention, early detection, and psychological care during potentially vulnerable stages of the life cycle, particularly childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.
Perinatal Mental Health in Contexts of Risk
The perinatal period constitutes a stage of heightened psychological vulnerability, especially when motherhood develops in contexts marked by cumulative risk factors such as exposure to war, forced displacement, trauma, emotional instability, psychosocial stress, or the presence of depressive and post-traumatic symptoms. Under the title “Perinatal Mental Health in Contexts of Risk”, this symposium brings together four presentations focused on the identification, understanding, and management of risk or vulnerability conditions that may compromise women’s psychological well-being during pregnancy and the postpartum period, constituting a first scenario for the prevention of child developmental difficulties.
The contributions included provide an approach to perinatal risk from a broad and integrated perspective.
First, the impact of war-related stress on Ukrainian women will be analysed, examining its role as a moderator in the relationship between emotional stability, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and postpartum depression.
Second, the relationship between forced displacement and childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder will be addressed, considering the associated factors in Ukrainian perinatal women.
The third presentation will focus on trauma treatment in perinatal women exposed to war contexts, highlighting the need for trauma-informed interventions adapted to situations of high adversity.
Alongside these contributions focused on extreme risk contexts, the symposium also incorporates two studies aimed at the early detection of psychological risk during pregnancy in the Spanish population. The psychometric properties of the Psychosocial Risk Questionnaire will be presented as a tool for identifying risk situations and screening for prenatal depression, as well as the validation of the Whooley and Arroll questions for the rapid detection of prenatal depression in Spanish women.
Taken together, these contributions emphasize that risk in perinatal mental health should not be understood solely as the presence of clinical symptoms in the mother, but rather as a constellation of individual, traumatic, social, and contextual factors that may interact and increase the likelihood of psychological distress during the transition to motherhood.
Depression, post-traumatic stress, exposure to violence, forced displacement, and the absence of adequate support can affect the quality of the early parent-child bond, parental sensitivity, and the emotional conditions in which a child’s development begins. Therefore, early identification, specific assessment, and the design of context-sensitive interventions are not only relevant for protecting women’s mental health during the perinatal period, but also for promoting safer, more sensitive, and healthier developmental trajectories for children.
ORGANIZED BY
ASSOCIATE
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
