BrainMap

Mrs. Ioana Roxana Podina

PhD

Associate Professor - UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Other affiliations

Senior Lecturer - UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Researcher | Teaching staff | Scientific reviewer | PhD supervisor

Ioana R. Podina is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. University of Bucharest. Among the subjects taught are Psychopathology, Clinical Cognitive Sciences, Applied Cognitive Psychology, and Methods of Systematic Analysis and Meta-analysis. Since 2018 she is PhD coordinator and since 2017 she is Director of the Cognitive Clinical Sciences Laboratory. She is currently Chair of the SEPI research committee (Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, https://www.sepiweb.org/page/38) and coordinator for Romania of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). Research areas are digital mental health, e-Health interventions, psychopathology and experimental psychopathology, clinical cognitive science, human-computer interaction, meta-research in psychology. A special place in her research is occupied by working with cancer survivors (PN III - P1 1.1 - TE2019 - 2140 grant).

Curriculum Vitae (18/01/2023)

Expertise & keywords

aiCARE: An Artificial Intelligence powered Conversational therapeutic Agent for Anxiety and depREssion in young adult cancer survivors Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de cercetare pentru stimularea tinerelor echipe independente
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-2140 2021 - 2023

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website: https://aicare.laboratorstiintecognitiveclinice.ro/

Abstract:

Scopul general al proiectului constă în dezvoltarea și testarea unui agent de conversație care se va baza pe inteligența artificială, instruit pentru a adresa simptomele de anxietate/depresie ale tinerilor adulți supraviețuitori de cancer și care poate fi încorporat în orice platformă de chat interactivă, accesibilă de pe telefoane mobile sau de pe calculator.

În prezent, nu există niciun alt agent de conversație bazat pe text care să ofere sprijin psihologic tinerilor supraviețuitori de cancer - un inteval de vârstă cu nevoi diferite de celelalte intervale de vârstă, să fie bazat pe principii științifice de terapie cognitiv-comportamentală sau care să își propună să utilizeze inteligența artificială la potențialul său maxim prin cei mai noi algoritmi de învățare automată.

Sistemul aiCARE va fi rezultatul a patru obiective principale progresând pe parcursul a 24 de luni de la o analiză a rețelei de cogniții și a prevalenței simptomelor la tinerii adulți supraviețuitori de cancer (O1), trecând prin dezvoltarea agentului conversațional aiCARE (O2), până la testarea experienței utilizatorilor în ceea ce privește sistemul (O3) și testarea eficacității (O4). Sistemul aiCARE va progresa gradual de la un sistem bazat pe selecție de răspunsuri predefinite la unul generativ capabil să dea oricând un răspuns automat.

Bazându-se pe o tehnologie cu costuri mici și din ce în ce mai inteligentă prin interacțiunea frecventă cu utilizatorul, aiCARE are potențialul de a avea un impact semnificativ asupra ceea ce presupune asistența pentru sănătate mintală în viitor.

Development of a theater therapy methodology with neurochemical and neurocognitive effects Call name:
2017 - 2019

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The MET project aims to develop a methodology for therapy through theatrical tools, with an effect at the neurochemical and neurocognitive levels. In collaboration with our partners, we use behavioral, electrophysiological, biochemical and imaging techniques, to determine how minimalist theatrical practices impact stress level and social closeness.

RoMOMatteR: Empowering Roma Girls' Mattering through Reproductive Justice Call name:
2019 - 2019

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website: http://romomatter.org/

Abstract:

RoMOMatteR is a transnational project that aims to tackle gender discrimination by empowering Roma girls to envision their own futures and choose motherhood only if and when they are ready.

European Network on Individualized Psychotherapy Treatment of Young People with Mental Disorders Call name:
2017 - 2019

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI ()

Project website:

Abstract:

TREATme is an initiative to build a European Network on Individualized Psychotherapy Treatment of Young People with Mental Disorders. The main aim of TREATme is to establish a sustainable European multidisciplinary researcher network focusing on individualized psychotherapy for young people with mental disorders.

(SIGMA: A Self-help, Integrated, and Gamified Mobile-phone Application for weight management in young adults Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - RUTE -2014 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2481 2015 - 2017

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: http://www.sigma-mhealth.ro

Abstract:

The general scope of the project is to develop a software application for mobile phones (i.e., Smartphones) that addresses behavioral and cognitive weight management issues. The resulting SIGMA application (i.e., the Self-help, Integrated, and Gamified Mobile-phone Application) will be a brief, technologically mediated CBT intervention (e-CBT), built to primarily address the maladaptive behavioral (e.g., dietary habits) as well as the cognitive styles (e.g., dysfunctional beliefs, attention biases) that impede weight management in young adults (18-40 years old) at risk for obesity (body mass index; BMI 23-30 kg/m2). The SIGMA prototype will coach the user through long-term changes; therefore it will integrate a gamified user-interface and it will monitor as well as alter important relapse predictors (e.g., unrealistic expectations of weight loss). First and foremost, SIGMA will assess the cognitive shift in implicit (i.e., attentional biases) and explicit cognitive distortions (i.e., dysfunctional cognitions) which impede a healthy weight management. Additionally, it will focus on weight changes in overweight young adults. It will do so by means of 4 main objectives, progressing from a systematic review of the literature (O1), to the development of the SIGMA application (O2), to its end-user (O3) and efficacy testing (O4). SIGMA will be the first application to fill the gap between the existing non-validated applications and evidence-based interventions for weight management.

Enhancing successful aging - a computer-based platform for cognitive training and rehabilitation - ActiveCORE Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA 2013 - call
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1797 2014 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO); MIRA REHAB SRL (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: http://www.activecore.ro

Abstract:

The current project aims to design and test an innovative software platform for cognitive training and rehabilitation in older individuals. Named ActiveCORE (Cognitive Optimization and Rehabilitation Enhancement), the project takes both a preventive and a corrective stance, by helping elders (1) to preserve their cognitive functions which naturally decline with aging and, at the same time, (2) trying to minimize the cognitive impairments caused by debilitating conditions frequently encountered in old age, like Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.

Since demographic data have indicated a strong tendency towards an aging population in later years, both at European level and in Romania, finding and implementing strategies for active aging has become a major priority. The project targets this direction by focusing on active aging from a psychological point of view, that of preserving and improving cognitive functions affected with age (e.g., attention, memory, reasoning ability). Since cognitive training and rehabilitation interventions target a large population, implementing effective, accessible, home-delivered techniques proves essential, since large-scale individual treatments are beyond reach, given the available resources of present-day societies. In this sense, computer-based interventions constitute a feasible solution, as they can be used at home, with relatively low costs.

Worldwide, there are currently several software platforms for cognitive training (e.g., IMPACT, Hermes, www.fp7-hermes.eu), showing promising results. However, most programs are either limited in scope, targeting only some specific cognitive functions (e.g., only prospective memory), or do not address both cognitive training and rehabilitation in an integrated fashion. Moreover, most gaming services delivered on the market are still not yet evidence-based, and/or they raise usability issues by not being specifically designed for the elderly. Last but not least, to our knowledge, there are no cognitive training and rehabilitation programs adapted for Romanian population.

Consequently, our project is focused on designing, implementing and testing a software platform for cognitive training and rehabilitation, using state of the art technology and grounding on scientific evidence. First, we will conduct an extensive literature analysis on (1) trainable cognitive functions, and (2) the effects of cognitive training programs on multiple outcomes such as specific cognitive functions, impact on daily activities and quality of life. These data would further constitute the input for the development of the platform. The software platform to be developed would be built on adaptive testing principles, targeting (a) the training of cognitive functions like attention, working memory, reasoning ability in the form of entertaining games for healthy elders, (b) rehabilitating cognitive abilities (e.g., tip of the tongue situations, prospective memory) in less functional elders, and (c) assisting elders in daily life activities (e.g., reminders, action plans). In addition, the platform would include a module for addressing emotional states, quality of life, and cognitive style (e.g., low frustration tolerance). The platform would rely on latest technologies, like the kinect system (human motion tracking), offering a friendly and ecological training environment. Once developed, the platform would be tested in terms of usability and acceptability, and also in terms of its effects on multiple level outcomes: cognitive functions, impact on daily activities, subjective well being and quality of life, and biological outcomes, via fMRI scanning. Implementing the project would therefore provide a well designed, competitive product for cognitive training and rehabilitation offering at the same time valuable scientific information.

Effectiveness of an empirically based web platform for anxiety in youths Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA-2011 call, Type 1
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3.1-1500 2012 - 2016

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)

Project website: http://idare.granturi.ubbcluj.ro

Abstract:

Anxiety disorders are estimated to affect up to 20% of children and adolescents (Costello, Egger & Angold, 2004), being among the most prevalent disorders in this age group. This rate is alarming, given that the prevalence of emotional disorders in children and adolescents is on the rise (Collishaw, Maughan, Natarajan & Pickles, 2010). Therefore, it is essential to develop and make accessible alternative evidence-based interventions, which are cost-effective and easier to disseminate, in a stepped-care approach. Computerized cognitive-behavioral (CBT) and cognitive bias modification (CBM) interventions delivered online have the potential of attending to these requirements (Andersson, 2009; Hallion & Ruscio, 2011). the main goal of the current project is to develop and test a new web platform (iDare) designed to integrate computer-based CBT and CBM interventions, in order to offer an easily accessible treatment of anxiety disorders in youth (age between 12 and 16 years). The development of iDare web platform will be conducted in accordance with the recent guidelines regarding the use of technology for mental health services (see Doherty, Coyle, & Mathews, 2010). Four objectives are subsumed to its development, each of them coming to solve a specific problem and build a solution: (1). To construct a complex theoretical framework for developing the web platform (iDare); (2) To develop a web platform for treating anxiety disorders in youths (iDare platform); (3). To test the preliminary version of the iDare web platform with respect to its usability; (4) To test the clinical utility of two types of treatment (a computer-based CBT protocol, respectively a computer-based CBT protocol supplemented with a CBM component) in decreasing anxious symptomatology in youths, both in terms of its effectiveness and mechanisms of change. The original, novelty and innovative nature of this project are seen at an applied (socio-economic level) and theoretical levels.

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON RESILIENCE IN EDUCATION Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de mobilitate pentru cercetatori
PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2018-0564 2018 -

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website:

Abstract:

26th European Congress of Psychiatry; EPA 2018 Call name: P 1 - SP 1.1 - Proiecte de mobilitate pentru cercetatori
PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2017-2528 2017 -

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA BUCURESTI (RO)

Project website:

Abstract:

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator	Download (31 kb) 08/05/2017
List of research grants as partner team leader
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects