A team of researchers at Cardiff University as part of a consortium have been granted 3m euros to advance family interventions for families with adolescents in low-resource areas in Eastern Europe.
The Family-Focused Adolescent & Lifelong Health Promotion (FLOURISH), comprising leading researchers and practitioners across Europe, including Austria, Republic of North Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova, is funded via Horizon Europe and the UK Research and Innovation Horizon (UKRI) guarantee.
The project aims to adapt, implement, and evaluate a package of programmes for adolescents aged 10-14 years and their parents within two health networks in North Macedonia and Moldova.
In the UK, the project is led by DECIPHer staff Dr Yulia Shenderovich, Dr Rhiannon Evans and Professor Graham Moore, who will manage one of 7 work packages, and represent the university as one of 4 organisations on the overall leadership committee.
Of the project, Dr Shenderovich said: ‘Together, with the academic and clinical expertise of the team, the intervention package will be adapted with the input of advisory groups of adolescents, parents, intervention staff, and other professional stakeholders.’
FLOURISH formed as the COVID-19 pandemic placed families and young people under additional stress worldwide, impacting Moldova and North Macedonia, among Europe’s poorest countries.
School closures, financial challenges, food insecurity, loss of loved ones and the war in Ukraine all contributed to increasing health risks and well-being.
The intervention package will build on the open-access programme Parenting for Lifelong Health for Teens.
The project will run for 4 years, concluding December 2026.
Find out more about FLOURISH and its team, in partnership with UNICEF, World Health Organisation, Moldova Ministry of Health.