Henriette Risvoll

I am a PhD-candidate in Psychology and Global Mental Health at the Centre for Crisis Psychology. I have a background as a clinical psychologist and have worked as a research assistant at CCP. I am interested in mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings, prevention and promotion, early childhood development and caregiving support, and nurturing care, as well as community and critical psychology.

PhD-project: Parental mental wellbeing and child development: Mixed methods study of a parenting programme in rural and peri-urban Malawian communities.

The research project is set in Malawi and is carried out in collaboration with local academic partners and SOS Children's Villages Malawi. The study works within the Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) services of SOS CV Malawi, aiming to use it as a point of entry for considering improvements in early child development and caregiver support. Our study has a specific focus on the parenting programme and its family groups as part of the FSP, and we focus in particular on the mental health/well-being of parents and guardians as an important part of care and child development.

This study examines the feasibility, acceptability and fidelity of implementing an added intervention of psychosocial support to caregivers into an existing programme (FSP) and assesses its integration. It examines preliminary changes as a potential effect from the intervention, as well as explore and document the experiences of the caregivers and providers. The findings will facilitate an analysis and a discussion of the buffering effect of parents and caregivers for fostering healthy child development, as well as mental health and psychological support for caregivers.

My main supervisor is Associate Professor Ragnhild Dybdahl. The PhD and research is founded by the Grieg Foundation, SOS Children's Villages Norway and UiB.