Maria Calatrava, researcher of the project 'Education of the affectivity and human sexuality' (EASH) of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) began last March 1 a research at the University of Porto, the most important university in Portugal and one of the 300 best universities in the world according to international rankings.

Her goal was to work under the supervision of Mariana Veloso Martins, professor at School of Psychology and Sciences at Education. This expert develops projects related to marital stability in couples who have undergone assisted reproduction treatments and to the reproductive health of young adults. She currently coordinates the group of Interest in Psychology and Counseling at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

"I had a very solid proposal of project , because the stays are very regulated there and require an important work of management ", says Maria. In addition, the stay also had as goal the implementation in Portugal and Brazil of Yourlife, one of the projects developed by EASH. 

This international initiative aims to improve the lifestyles and personal relationships of young people. It analyzes through questionnaires aspects such as leisure and free time, addictions, family, interpersonal relationships, school bullying, affectivity, sexuality, social pressure, study and partner violence. It currently has the responses of more than 20,000 young people from 10 countries.

During the first days of March, Maria Calatrava was able to meet some colleagues from Professor Veloso Martins' department , which focuses on sexual Education issues and has some common lines with EASH. As Maria explains, one of her purposes was to establish contacts to adapt Yourlife's questionnaires and materials to Portuguese and to deepen the topic of informed consents in schools. 

academic publication for a first quartile journal

He says that another important aspect was to assess funding options: to identify competitive calls for projects that the EASH team could prepare jointly with researchers from the Portuguese campus .

The confinement in Spain and Portugal from mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic meant a change of plans for María Calatrava. But it was by no means the end of her stay. 

"It was not possible to prioritize the implementation of Yourlife in schools in Portugal and Brazil, as the academic centers were closed at the time and the coronavirus has altered their normal operating dynamics," he says. He therefore put the idea on hold with the intention of taking it up again when the global status returns to normal. And he focused on the preparation of a good scientific article with his sights set on a first quartile journal.

"We found a common area that has to do with 'Self Differentiation'. It is the central concept of Bowen's Theory and is defined as the capacity to achieve emotional autonomy with respect to the family of origin, maintaining a certain Degree of connection with it," she points out. She adds that in the new project for the prevention of partner violence that they develop in Yourlife they take into account this psychological construct as an indicator of emotional maturity.

María suggested a pioneering idea to her supervisor: to conduct a scoping review of all the scientific literature since the birth of Bowen's Systemic Family Theory in the 1980s."It is a very important trend in family therapy and so far only two narrative reviews have been done," she explains. They count on the great experience of Professor Veloso in the field of systematic reviews. 

To develop it, they have organized a team of work with five people from four universities, Martiño Rodríguez and herself from the ICS. "Technological tools facilitate the permanent contact . Despite the distance, we are not having any difficulty working together," emphasizes María Calatrava. She hopes to finish the paper soon and receive acceptance by a prestigious international journal.