On 5 April this year, the 6th Science in Practice Conference – A Health-Friendly Environment for All Children was held at the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius University. The conference was aimed at doctors, public health specialists and all those interested in protecting and enhancing children’s health.
The event started with a presentation on the correlation between a child’s environment and their mental health
The opening addresses were given by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius University, Prof. Dalius Jatužis, the Director of the Institute of Health Sciences, Prof. Natalya Istomina, the Head of the Department of Public Health at the Institute of Health Sciences, Prof. Rimantas Stuka, and the Senior Adviser of the Department of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Asta Kandratavičienė.
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine welcomed the fact that the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Institute of Health Sciences was, for the sixth time, bringing together public health specialists from all over Lithuania: “Such a gathering is an excellent opportunity to share good practice, and to review the creation and maintenance of a positive psychological, physical, social and spiritual environment conducive to children’s health, not only in schools, but also in other environments that impact children.”
The first presentation on the topic Children, Environment and Mental Health was given by Dr. Marija Jakubauskienė, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health, part of the Institute of Health Sciences, within the Faculty of Medicine, at Vilnius University. In her presentation, the associate professor stressed that the psychosocial environment is the most important factor in children’s mental health and their psychological resilience: “What happens in the psychosocial environment, following adverse events in children’s lives, strongly increases the risk of poor mental health and the risk of developing mental health disorders, reducing social adaptation and social functioning in adulthood.”
According to the associate professor, the dynamics of new mental and behavioural disorders have not only been increasing over the last 15-20 years, but it has also been observed that these disorders tend to occur at a younger age: “Mental and behavioural disorders in children are identified at a much earlier age than any other chronic processes. The onset of illness can occur before the age of 14.” She went on to highlight that, childhood is the “window of opportunity” and, from a public health perspective, this is the time to focus preventative efforts.
Ms Jakubauskienė supported the approach of targeting preventative mental health risk factor interventions across a lower risk but larger population size. Pilot initiatives in Lithuania have included, wellbeing counsellors’ offices, family visits, strengthening parenting skills, and programmes to promote pro-social behaviour in children. In summary, she explained that the promotion of pro-social behaviour is the intervention with the highest yielding results, and that the involvement of public health professionals in schools is particularly necessary for the promotion of public mental health and well-being.
© VU MF
Sharing, posing questions and discussion was encouraged at the event
In addition to the core theme of strengthening children’s mental health, this year’s conference focused on improving the mental health of the general population, its emotional and physical wellness, as well as the impact of education, emigration, and climate change in relation to children’s mental health.
Participants were able to be part of the day-long event, both live and remotely, which featured 13 presentations in total. The organisers and moderators used the Facebook platform to encourage the audience to engage in a science in practice discussion, to share comments, to reflect, and to actively ask questions of the speakers, who came from a number of different institutions.
© VU MF