In this first day the attendees have been able to enjoy the conference of Larissa Niec, from Central Michigan University in the United States. In her speech she indicated that obesity is one of the biggest health problems in children at a global level and stressed that during the COVID-19 pandemic this problem has been exacerbated. In this line, the speaker has highlighted that obesity can compromise the immune system of children through multiple mechanisms, finding a high comorbidity between childhood obesity and coronavirus hospitalization, and a greater likelihood of suffering more severe symptoms. In view of the importance of addressing a serious worldwide problem such as childhood obesity, Dr. Niec has shown that there is evidence of the benefits of the therapy on which she has focused her research, called Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), for the prevention of childhood obesity. A better relationship between parents and children can reduce or prevent the development of physical problems such as childhood obesity, as well as associated physical or emotional health problems.
 

Prof. Francisco Labrador, from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, participated as an invited speaker on the first day of #AITANA2020. He addressed a relevant yet complex topic, that of evidence-based treatments in Psychology. In his speech, he emphasized that evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of psychological treatments is a determining factor, and it is necessary to describe each type of treatment in a specific and applied manner in the form of a protocol of action. Furthermore, he indicated that the most interesting treatments tend to be short term and specific to specific problems and based on cognitive-behavioral techniques. In this presentation, it has been emphasized that psychological treatments are shown to be the most effective intervention and of choice in many disorders, as opposed to other treatments such as pharmacological or physical, especially when considering their long-term effects. Prof. Labrador has concluded that the diffusion or publicity of the results of psychotherapy seems to be very decisive, both for society to know that it works and for public and private health managers to consider it when selecting their interventions.

In addition to three international conferences, a total of 14 symposiums on different topics, such as child anxiety problems, sexual abuse, health promotion, learning disabilities, among others, have been broadcast during #AITANA2020. Furthermore, in the Therapy Room, it has been possible to enjoy the first meeting with the author of the conference and the experts have tried to answer relevant questions such as Why are evidence-based treatments important in Psychology, What are the effective treatments for cannabis addiction in adolescents?, How can I help my perfectionist child?, or Why does the prevention of bullying and cyberbullying not work?  

It is also worth noting the great participation of the attendees through the forums. Many people have participated answering the questions that have been asked through the general forum. In this first day, four prizes have already been drawn.  

If you could not visualize some of the contents or you would like to repeat an interesting session... Don't worry! In the section "On demand" you can find all the broadcasted contents.  

Tomorrow we will have the expected interventions of two international experts, such as the conference of Michael Furlong and the meeting with the expert Ashvalom Caspi. Don't miss it!