We could say the Predo and ITU projects are like a pair of sister studies: both include a longitudinal follow-up of pregnant mothers and their children, both tackle themes like developmental origins of health and disease and the fetal effects of maternal stress, mental health and pregnancy disorders – and both are currently undergoing a follow-up data collection phase. The Predo children are now in elementary school, and the eldest of ITU children are turning five this year.
To make data collection possible, we currently have nine very bright future psychologists working in the Depsy group: some are Bachelor’s and some Master’s students. One of the responsibilities of these research assistants is carrying out the neuropsychological tests on the Predo and Itu children. We use a combination of widely used and recognized, age-appropriate measures of cognitive development, assessing areas like general intelligence, memory, executive functioning, and motor skills. We also have several clinical and academic experts training and helping the research assistants.
Most children feel meeting the assistant is fun: depending on the age of child, tests can include tasks like playing with building blocks, reading a story, playing a memory game or drawing together.
One of the most important objectives for the assistant is to keep up a nice atmosphere: things like juice breaks and conversations about the kids’ favorite toys or hobbies, for example, can help the children relax, focus and show their very best in terms of performance. The parents get feedback on how their children did – and as for the children, we hope taking part in a fun study can even give these curious minds a positive first-hand experience of what research is.
To read more about what goes on during research visits, please check out the latest Predo blog post and Itu blog post by our assistants (in Finnish).
/ Sara Sammallahti