Aid for Ramón y Cajal contracts (RYC) 2024
18 December, 2024
Jesús de la Osada: “You have to enjoy your work every day and do it with the highest quality possible”
19 December, 2024Thanks to the coordination of the IIS Aragón, this project is part of the Research Group on Digital Communication and Information (GICID) of UNIZAR, in collaboration with ASAPME Aragón and the sponsorship of Johnson & Johnson, with the aim of making visible and normalizing the treatment of mental health in young people and adolescents.
Over 59% of Spanish youth between 15 and 29 years old admit to suffering from mental health problems. This is reflected in the data from the “IV Youth Barometer 2023. Health and well-being” carried out by the Mutua Madrileña Foundation and Fad Juventud. In addition, the pandemic has increased these problems especially in children, adolescents and young people. Precisely in Spain, the situation is alarming, with a 50% increase in cases of depression and anxiety in minors over the last decade, According to the Spanish Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AEPNyA). In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) By 2024, one in seven young people between 10 and 19 years old will suffer from some type of mental disorder.
In this context, “ConoceRte” was born, a Pioneering podcast in Aragon that aims to make visible and normalize the treatment of child and adolescent mental health which was presented today at a press conference. Thanks to the coordination of the Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragon), this project is part of the Research Group on Digital Communication and Information (GICID) of the University of Zaragoza, in collaboration with ASAPME Aragon, and the sponsorship of Johnson & Johnson.
“This podcast is based on the doctoral thesis of colleague Marta Blasco. It is aimed at helping teenagers and young people who listen to it get to know themselves a little better, identify what is happening to them and even ask for help,” she notes. Carmen Marta Lazo, Principal Investigator of the Research Group on Digital Communication and Information (GICID) of the University of Zaragoza and professor of Journalism.
In fact, the project was born as a mental health care promotion tool for adolescents and young people, in a close and direct way. “The doctoral thesis on which this project is based has studied various investigations that indicate that podcasts can serve as a supportive therapy in difficult times of grief, concluding that listening to these formats can help improve the mental health of listeners, hence the choice of this format,” highlights Carmen Marta. And the consumption of podcasts has not stopped growing in recent years, especially since the pandemic: has increased by 40%, according to Culture Next (2023) and is the successful format of generation Z.

'ConoceRTe' has 10 programs where topics are addressed briefly and concisely (lasting between 4 and 6 minutes) such as self-image and identity, self-esteem, sport, how to deal with stress and anxiety before exams, social networks, academic pressure, uncertainty and future work, acceptance of changes in life, suicide, how to ask for help in moments of loneliness or how to ask for help.
With respect to ASAPME Aragon, The collaboration of its professionals has been essential to ensure that the content of the podcasts offered the most necessary and realistic focusIn this regard, the association's manager, Ana López, has highlighted "the scientific advice that both the psychiatrist and the psychologists of the association have offered to the editorial team and the review work that has been carried out to guarantee the adequacy and scientific rigor of the topics addressed."
“At GICID we have tried to focus on topics that can help teenagers and young people identify everyday situations that may have happened to them, providing them with advice that allows them to improve their emotional well-being. The podcasts are developed through dialogue between two people and aim to provide support, knowledge and self-learning in terms of mental health for anyone who listens to them. In addition, the voices, the treatment and the way of approaching these spaces are based on the Relational Factor that we have been researching for two decades in our research group,” they point out from GICID.
The first chapter ('Self-image and identity') has been released today as a premiere at the press conference and the rest of the podcast They can be heard through the social networks of the participating organizations (University of Zaragoza, IIS Aragon and ASAPME Aragon).