RP2 Public Mental Health – Running Grants and Projects

NATIONAL PROJECTS EXCEPT OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES

The Czech Research Council

Healthy Brain Aging: A Life-course Perspective (NU20J-04-00022)
Investigator: MUDr. Pavla Čermáková, Ph.D.
Principle investigator: NIMH
Project partner: Masarykova univerzita
Duration: 1.5.2020–31.12.2023
Total budget: 11 277 000 Kč
Total budget NIMH: 3 885 000 Kč
Abstract: Brain disorders, such as cognitive impairment and depression, are strongest contributors to disability in older adults. We aim to take a life-course perspective and study the role of biological aging on vulnerability to cognitive and affective disorders. In work package 1, we will analyze longitudinal data on cognitive performance and depression from the Czech arm of the study Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe (HAPIEE; n=8 856 individuals, aged 58 years at baseline in 2002, 53% women). Since recent studies suggest that alterations in the brain, previously believed to occur only in later life, are present already in young adults before they reach their 30th birthday, work package 2 of the current project will invite members of the prenatal birth cohort from European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ELSPAC) who took part in its neuroimaging follow-up in 2015 (n=131; age 23-24; 53% women) to a second neuroimaging follow-up (age 28-29) and assess their DNA epigenetic age, biological age, cardiovascular risk factors, cognition, mood and anxiety.
The overarching aim of the proposed project is to investigate the role of chronological and biological aging on affective and cognitive disorders in several periods of life, to disentangle their common neurobiological substrates, the inequalities in their occurrence and propose interventions in order to decrease the burden of mental disorders in the Czech Republic. To achieve these aims, we will analyze large datasets that include information about early-life environment and follow individuals thoughout different periods of life, thus applying a life-course perspective towards understanding the brain aging process.

The Technology Agency of The Czech Republic

Training Aimed at Increasing Police Prepardness for Mentally and Communication-intensive Situations Using Virtual Reality (TL03000050)
Investigator: Eliška Procházková, MSc., PhD
Principle investigator: NIMH
Project partner: Leiden University (Eliška Procházková, MSc., PhD, 3dsense, s.r.o. (Ing. Jan Hrdlička)
Duration: 1.8.2020–31.8.2023
Total budget: 13 639 695 CZK
Total budget NIMH: 2 585 919 CZK
Abstract: Police officers face many mentally and communicatively demanding situations on a daily basis, including, for example, communication with mentally ill persons, victims of serious crimes or persons demonstrating the intention to commit suicide. These situations evoke strong emotional reactions and require social skills and experience. The aim of the project is to develop training in social skills in a virtual environment, which will aim to strengthen the ability of police officers to effectively manage socially tense situations and thus protect the health of all involved. With the help of experts from various fields, we will create a VR (virtual reality) games for police training, the effectiveness of which will then be verified through an international comparative study.

RSJ Foundation

Psychosocial Education for Children in Elementary Schools (NP-038-2019)
Investigator.: PhDr. Petr Winkler
Principle investigator: NIMH 
Duration: 1.1.2019–31.8.2020
Total budget NIMH: 2 535 228 CZK
Abstract: The aim of this project is to introduce a program of social-emotional learning and mental health literacy to elementary schools in Czechia. The main activities will include a development and piloting of the program, revisions of the program based on the feedback from the piloting phase, and development of a teachers’ training. Consultations will be held with Czech as well as international experts who have experiences with programs of a similar kind, and meetings will be organized with key stakeholders partaking in educational system in order to assure a sustainability of the program in the context of elementary education in Czechia. The project will have two main tangible results, a curriculum of social-emotional learning and mental health literacy and a teachers’ training program.

OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES 

OP Employment

Destigmatization of People with Mental Disease (CZ.03.2.63/0.0/0.0/15_039/0007276)
Investigator: PhDr. Petr Winkler
Principle investigator: NIMH
Duration: 1.9.2017–31.8.2022
Total budget NIMH: 94 956 515 CZK
Abstract: The project improves the quality of life of people with mental illness through a range of destigmatization measures. It builds on the best foreign and domestic experience, careful situational analysis, cooperation with the world leading experts, a wide participation of people with mental illness and their loved ones and an expert platform bringing together representatives of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic. The project includes continuous evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures.

Early Intervention for Serious Mental Illness (VIZDOM) (CZ.03.2.63/0.0/0.0/15_039/0009304)
Investigator: PhDr. Petr Winkler
Principle investigator: NIMH
Duration: 1.4.2018–31.3.2022
Total budget NIMH: 37 319 716 CZK
Abstract: The project presented in the framework of the reform of mental health care will increase the availability and efficiency of health and social services and support the transfer of the centre of psychiatric care to the community. It is aimed at supporting prevention and early intervention in severe mental illnesses (SMI). It focuses on preventing the development of mental illnesses, reducing the number and length of hospitalizations for the first episodes of SMI, and on preventing the loss of employment in people at risk of SMI. The proposed measures will be implemented and evaluated within the framework of the project.
http://vizdom.cz/en/

INTERNAL FUNDING COMPETITION NIMH

Risk of Psychiatric Hospitalization in People with Juvenile Rheumatologic Illness: Register Data Based Study (323B_2020)
Investigator: Mgr. Karolína Mladá
Duration: 18.2.2020–17.3.2020
Amount of support IFC: 68 000 CZK