The University of Barcelona is a public institution of higher education in Catalonia founded in 1450. The UB is also the principal centre of university research in Spain and has become a European benchmark for research activity, both in terms of the number of research programmes it conducts and the excellence these have achieved.
Its own history closely tied to the history of Barcelona and of Catalonia. The UB is fully integrated in Barcelona's inner-city and forming a network of centres: 18 faculties (Biology, Chemistry, Dentistry, Economic and Business, Education, Fine Arts, Geography and History, Geology, Law, Library and Information Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Nursing, Philology, Physics, Psychology), 1 university school, 8 university institutes and a series of associated centres that contribute to the creation, transfer and dissemination of culture and of scientific, technical and professional knowledge.
The are 62,984 students and 5,532 professors, lecturers and researchers staff.
The GRISIJ group in University of Barcelona
The GRISIJ Group (Investigation in socio-educational intervention in childhood and adolescence) was created in 1995 by Professor Pere Amorós at the University of Barcelona, inside the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, in order to address the scarcity of knowledge and lack of intervention methods in the sphere of vulnerability, social maladjustment and childhood protection. The interest and the experience of the Group's members have led to the creation of an interdisciplinary research team focused on applied research. Currently, the group GRISIJ consists of 20 members, including researchers and pre-doctoral students from three Catalan Universities (University of Barcelona, University of Lleida and University of Rovira i Virgili) working with the collaboration of other European Universities. The GRISIJ Group's objective is to create frameworks based on scientific research and to transform them into resources (tools and programs) for professionals. These resources allow professionals to develop socio-educational mechanisms to support their work helping vulnerable children and their families. Our research projects are focused on assessing the needs of at-risk families and children in the child protection system using a co-operative and participative approach in the investigation. This approach allows us to design intervention and/or training resources to help improve socio-educational interventions for families, especially with regard to vulnerable families, foster care and adoption. The Group is also implementing, analyzing and evaluating the programs and methodology in this field. As a result of this research, group intervention models that focus on training and support have been developed.
The contribution to the project
The contribution of the GRISIJ Group with the CAPEvFAIR Project is focused on issues and areas where the Group has a well-established track record. The researchers' extensive experience is evident, through their projects they have been sharing their knowledge regarding the application of qualitative investigation methodologies such as the group intervention model developed for use in the socio-educational action program. They bring together theoretical frameworks such as resilience, positive parenting, the ecological model and children's rights, and give a socio-educational focus to their ideas. "Learning about Motherhood: Preparing for the birth" and "Learning together, growing as a family" are two programs which illustrate the researchers' strengths. The motherhood program offers comprehensive training of women and their partners which emphasizes the sharing of experiences, achievements and doubts in a group. This encourages consideration of each individual's attitudes and their reactions to new situations, helping develop their knowledge about specific aspects of pregnancy, birth and postpartum. The training is focused on three key dimensions developed by the family education model of the GRISIJ group: emotional, behavioural and cognitive attitudes. The "Learning togther, growing as a family" program is oriented towards the positive parenting aspects of childcare; attachment, educational styles, communication, building an understanding with school and new technologies, play and shared leisure activities as well as conflict management. These objectives take into account a broad view of child development and family life from three main aspects (1) helping to manage emotions; (2) developing good habits which help face up to challenges with competence; (3) understanding the challenges living together as a family. The general objective of the program is to promote the healthy, harmonious development of families with children 6-12 years old by encouraging positive relationships between parents and children, in accordance with positive parenting guidelines.
Within the CAPEvFAIR Project, the GRISIJ Group is responsable for co-ordinating the IO4 work on accompaniment and the IO5 framework of competencies. The objective is to actively contribute to the others IO as well to participate in all the project activities'. This allows us to observe the way the project is developing and to help build bridges connecting theory with practice.
Nuria Fuentes Peláez nuriafuentes@ub.edu (University of Barcelona, Departament of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education, Grisij Group)
www.ub.edu
www.ub.edu/grisij
The Grisij team
PhD with european mention in Education and Master in Group Dynamics with the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona. Associate professor. Currently she is teaching and researching in the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education at the University of Barcelona. She co-directs the child protection research line of the GRISIJ group. Her research is related to the protection of children and the family, especially with regard to foster care and adoption and from the perspective of resilience and positive parenting. Publications include contributions in various family educational and support programs (addressed to foster care and adoptive families, as well as families in vulnerable situations, biological families), the program to accompany the pregnancy, birth and puerperium, book chapters and scientific articles.
Nuria Fuentes-Peláez
Phd in Education with the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona. Currently she is teaching and researching in the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education at the University of Barcelona. Associate professor. Her research is related to special needs education and the protection of children and the family. Publications include contributions in various family educational and support programs.
Crescencia Pastor Vicente
PhD in Pedagogy with the University of Lleida. Currently she is a researcher in the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology at the University of Lleida in a project funded by UNICEF. She is member of the GRISIJ group. Her research is related to children's rights, especially with regard to child participation and from the perspective of child rights-based approach as a mechanism of self-protection. Her publications include contributions about the promotion of resilience through the child rights-based approach; and about child participation.
Aida Urrea Monclús
Graduate in criminology, I am currently working on her PhD in the GRISIJ research group in the area of child protection.
PhD in Medicine with the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Master in Promotion and Health Education with University of Barcelona. Teaching and researching in the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education at the University of Barcelona. Group coordinator of de GRISIJ group. Researched mainly about Health Promotion and Education, and Pedagogy in Hospital, focused on resilience and rights. Publications include family educational programs and health promotion programs (maternal education, sexual health, HIV-AIDS and other STD, children with congenital heart disease), and scientific papers.
María Cruz Molina Garuz
PhD in Education with the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona (UB). Part time teaching. Currently she is teaching and researching in the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis. She has been a member of the research group GRISIJ since 2010. Her research is related to emotional education through artistic methodologies.
Publications include contributions on the relation between art and social work in terms of emotional and resilience perspective with vulnerable people.
Anna Mundet Bolós
PhD in Educational Technology with the University of Lleida. Researching and teaching on the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology at the University of Lleida. Assistant Professor. Member of the GRISIJ group, his research focuses on how to promote resilience through virtual environments and how positive uses of digital media can help to prevent social and digital risk situations, especially in vulnerable collectives. Publications include contributions about the promotion of resilience through the positive technology adoption approach and the digital skills of child and adolescents.
Eduard Vaquero Tió
PhD in Education with the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona (UB). Assistant Professor. Currently she is teaching and researching in the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis. She has been a member of the research group GRISIJ since 2006. Her research is related to the protection of children, family and dating violence.
Publications include socio-educational programs for families; programs to prevent dating violence; maternal education program; book chapters and scientific articles.
Ainoa Mateos Inchaurrondo
PhD in Education. Currently she is a professor of the Education, Pedagogy and Social Work faculty at the University of Lleida where she coordinates the doctoral program in Education, Society and Quality of Life and directs the Chair Education and Adolescence. Her research is developed as member of the University of Lleida and the GRISIJ group, where she co-directs the child protection research line of the GRISIJ group (Socio Research Group Interventions in Children and Youth). She also is Principal researcher of UNICEF's projects in Lleida and the Observatory on Childhood and Adolescence in Lleida city. She is one of the Spanish representatives at AIFREF network and participates in other international networks. Her research is related to the child protection system, especially with regard to intervention with biological families. Publications include contributions in various educational and support programs (addressed to biological families and foster care families, as well as families in vulnerable situations), book chapters and scientific articles.
M.Àngels Balsells Bailon
She is PhD in Education by the University of Barcelona (UB). Currently she is working on her PhD in Education with the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona (UB). Moreover, she is teaching and researching in the department of Research Methods and Diagnosis. She has been a member of the research group GRISIJ since 2012. Her research is related to foster care children from the perspective of resilience and mentoring, researching the importance of the relationships between children and other significant figures. Publications include contributions related to foster care children and families.
Anna Ciurana Sala