Rodrigo Antunes Lima

The main focus of my research is on the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental problems in children and adolescents. I have a particular interest in the importance of a physically active lifestyle on the promotion of mental health in youth. My background is in physical education, and I conducted a PhD in Health Sciences at the University of Southern Denmark. I have participated in many international projects, especially in school-based interventions and cohorts focusing on various health outcomes in the youth population.

Currently, I am the director of the IMPROVA project (e-Intervention Enhancing Mental Health in Adolescents Project), an EU-funded project (European commission: no. 101080934) that will co-design, pilot, evaluate, and facilitate the upscaling of a modular eHealth intervention platform that aims to improve mental health and wellbeing, early detect mental health problems and prevent common mental problems in adolescents.

IMPROVA will be implemented in school settings and will include components for adolescents, parents, teachers, and other school staff in complementary and synergistic modules based on materials designed and tested in >20 projects carried out by the consortium members. The platform will be co-created by the consortium in collaboration with stakeholder groups (adolescents, parents, teachers, other school staff, schools and policymakers). IMPROVA includes an international inter-disciplinary group of researchers and practitioners from medicine, education, psychology, sociology, public health, economics, physical activity, ethics, law, UX design, computer science, medical informatics, data science, ICT technologies, and policymakers. After alpha, beta and pilot testing the platform, IMPROVA will be implemented via a cluster randomised controlled trial in secondary education schools randomly selected in France, Germany, Romania and Spain, including 8,000 adolescents. A 360º evaluation of IMPROVA will include Effectiveness, Implementation, Economic, and Social Return on Investment analysis. Using implementation science methodology, IMPROVA will co-design transferable evidence-based guidance for scaling up the platform with users and policymakers.

IMPROVA aims to provide an evidence-based, innovative, large-scale, comprehensive intervention, and a scale-up plan to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders in adolescents; empower adolescents and families to make better decisions regarding their mental health; and provide schools and the community with tools to achieve a society with better mental health and lower stigma.