Processes of Well-Being and Adaptive Change

PROCEED: A process-based competency assessment method to promote evidence-based dissemination practices (2024-2028)

The aim of this research project is to create and investigate new methods for assessing therapist competencies and monitoring competency development in order to promote evidence-based training practices. We are using the theoretical framework of process-based therapy to approach definition and evaluation of competencies. The research is funded by the Research Council of Finland. The research team includes PI, academy research fellow and senior lecturer Katariina Keinonen, postdoctoral researcher Simone Gorinelli and senior lecturer Essi Sairanen. 

We work in close collaboration with leading experts of process-based and cognitive behavioral therapies. Key collaborators include professor Stefan G. Hofmann (Phillips-Universität Marburg, Germany), professor Joseph Ciarrochi (Australian Catholic University, Australia) and professor emeritus Martti T. Tuomisto (Tampere University, Finland). 

More information about the research team and the progress of the research: https://www.jyu.fi/fi/hankkeet/proceed

Equine-assisted therapy is a modality of psychotherapeutic care that is currently utilized particularly among children and adolescents. 

Anna-Kaisa Pitkänen's doctoral dissertation research explores the key processes of change in equine-assisted cognitive behavioral therapy for youth. The mixed methods design of the study will focus on the role of physiological and movement synchrony between client, therapist and horse, as well as therapeutic alliance and development of psychological flexibility. The findings of the current work can increase understanding on the effectiveness of equine-assisted psychotherapy and the importance of physiological co-regulation for treatment outcome in animal-assisted psychotherapeutic work. The thesis is supervised by Dr. Katariina Keinonen, Dr. Miiamaaria Kujala and professor emeritus Martti Tuomisto.

Relationship between male and female prisoners' lifetime experiences of violence and trauma symptoms

The study, carried out in cooperation with the Prison and Probation Service of Finland and the National Institute for Health and Welfare, uses the data from the Prisoners' Health and Well-being 2023 (Wattu-IV) study, which has investigated the health of Finnish prisoners on a broad scale. 

Katja Koskialho's doctoral dissertation research examines male and female prisoners' lifetime experiences of violence and their relationship to current trauma symptoms, under the supervision of Dr. Katariina Keinonen, professor emeritus Raimo Lappalainen and Dr. Alice Keski-Valkama.

Searching for optimal hostility: assessment and rehabilitation of social cognition in forensic psychiatric care.

Social cognition is the psychological function that enables perceiving, understanding, and regulating information about others and their relationships to oneself. Social cognition involves both the automatic recognition of emotions, through cues like facial expressions or tone of voice, and the more deliberate ability to consider the thoughts, feelings, and mental states of others. The association between the severity of social cognition impairment and the severity of psychological dysfunction seems to be somewhat linear. The most severe social cognition problems are related to severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the second most severe to personality disorders, and the mildest to anxious and depressive disorders. But importantly, deficiencies in social cognition are considered to be core symptoms of psychotic disorders.

Leo Kuutti's doctoral dissertation research project, Searching for Optimal Hostility – Studies on the Validity of the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire, aims to develop assessment methods for evaluating social cognition in Finnish and to investigate the effectiveness of a metacognitive skills training group. The project aims to generate scientific knowledge on the relationship between social cognition and self-perception, as well as on the jumping-to-conclusions bias. Supervisors of the thesis are Dr. Katariina Keinonen, professor emeritus Raimo Lappalainen, and Dr. Alice Keski-Valkama.