Christine Dworschak

LIFE Fellow since 2021, University of Zurich

During my studies in Clinical Psychology at Freie Universität Berlin, two research fields particularly piqued my curiosity: the investigation of risk factors for mental disorders on the one hand and the use of digital technologies in psychological interventions on the other. In order to gain more insights into these fields, I started working with several international research groups (e.g., Jutta Joormann’s lab, Yale University). During this time, I realized that the combination of both of my research interests — namely using digital psychological interventions to tackle these risk factors — has an enormous potential to effectively prevent individuals from developing a mental disorder. However, I also noticed that while there is a lot of research on innovative online-based treatment approaches in younger adults, such research on older age groups is lacking. Since these new treatment approaches have been shown to be highly effective, I am convinced that it is important to make them available and suitable for all individuals across the lifespan. Therefore, in my PhD project, I am developing an online-based intervention for alleviating loneliness in the group of older adults, being one of the main risk factors for the development of depression (supervisors: Andreas Maercker, Eva Heim).

Dissertation project:

Development of an online-based intervention for alleviating loneliness in the group of older adults

Publications

Dworschak, C., Heim, E., & Maercker, A. (2022). Efficacy of internet-based interventions for common mental disorder symptoms and psychosocial problems in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Internet Interventions, 27, Article 100498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2022.100498