Research programs
The research in the Centre of Excellence in Early Intervention and Family Studies (CIF) is organized into four programs. Three of the programs focus on the central developmental arenas for early childhood mental health, which are the family, the childcare system and the pedagogical and psychological counselling system (PPC), while the fourth program focuses on psychometrics, statistics, and register studies.
In each of the first three programs, there will be four approaches promoting early childhood mental health:
- Early identification: Development, evaluation, and implementation of systematic and standardised tools for monitoring early childhood mental health and identification of risk factors at both local, national, and international levels.
- Interventions: Development, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based early childhood mental health promoting interventions at different levels of prevention (universal, selected, and indicated).
- Capacity building: In particular, educational activities delivered by CIF with the aim of enhancing the skills and knowledge of professionals regarding evidence-based tools and methods to promote early childhood mental health.
- Dissemination of knowledge and policy development activities: These activities aim to raise and maintain the societal and political awareness of the importance of early childhood mental health in relation to lifelong mental health.