Name Martha Givaudan | ||
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Martha Edith Givaudan Moreno Ph.D. (born 28 September 1956, Mexico city) is the executive Vice President of Mexican Institute for Family and Population Research (IMIFAP (Instituto Mexicano de Investigación de Familia y Población)--Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo) and a member of the National System of Researchers. She is a specialist in clinical psychology in the area of child psychology and is a certified therapist for individuals with Post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Education
She earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology in 1979 from National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico UNAM) and later earned her Master’s there in 1993. In 2003, she earned her Ph.D. in Research and Evaluation of Health Prevention Programs from Tilburg University. Since then, she has continued her research in psychology through her work at IMIFAP (Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo), studying the effects of psychosocial barriers on the decisions and actions of individuals from marginalized communities in Mexico.
Career
Dr. Givauden began her career at the National Institute of Perinatology researching neonatal behavior.
In 1989, she began working at Mexican Institute for Family and Population Research (IMIFAP—Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo) and currently serves as the Vice President, principal investigator, and project director. The programs she has participated in creating, implementing, and evaluating throughout the years focus on incorporating the development of life skills with a basic education in a variety of themes pertaining to the daily challenges of life in poverty in Mexico. Such themes include: health care topics (such as alcohol and substance abuse prevention, healthy eating and hygiene practices, diabetes prevention, reproductive rights, breast and cervical cancer prevention, coping with depression, overcoming partner violence, and new mother and infant health), productivity topics (such as developing a culture of savings, commercialization of products, creating small business), citizenship topics (such as human rights and gender equality, CSOs professionalization, civic engagement in the community, social violence, and parental responsibility), and education topics (such as health care education in sexuality, alcohol and substance abuse prevention, hygiene and health, violence and bullying as well as education in finances, civics and ethics, and talent development).
While at IMIFAP (Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo), Dr. Givaudan has written and published over 50 educational materials as part of the IMIFAP (Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo) programming. One publication, a textbook on civics and ethics training, is now used as part of the curriculum in the Mexican national public school system.
Outside the organization, she has participated in other research projects and co-authored more than 30 academic articles. As a certified therapist for individuals with Post-traumatic stress disorder at Hospital Angeles Mexico, she has contributed to many research projects in this field. Her most recent publication for Journal of EMDR Practice and Research reported the findings from a randomized control trial study that tested the effects of different psychological and pharmacological treatments on adult PTSD patients.
Awards and honors
Dr. Givaudan is a Level 1 member of the National System of Researchers.
She is also a member of the executive board for the International Association of Applied Psychology.
In 2007, Dr. Givaudan received the “Distinguished International Psychologist Award” from the American Psychiatric Association; she was thus featured in their magazine for her most recently developed project with IMIFAP (Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo), an education program on the topic of diabetes that was designed for border state citizens. Through the program, health care clinicians in the region were given trainings on how to effectively provide health care education to the surrounding communities about proper nutrition and exercise habits while developing the social skills needed for “stress management and decision making”. The organization estimated that 5,000 at-risk adults were reached through their efforts.
In 2010, she received the Mentor International Prevention Award from Queen Silvia of Sweden’s Mentor Foundation. The award recognized her IMIFAP (Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo) program for “Drug Prevention through Life Skills, Academic Achievement, and School Enrollment”, a program that targeted 7,968 children in the states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, and Chiapas and “represents a comprehensive, school-based strategy against school drop-out as a protective factor against drug use.” The project utilized the IMIFAP (Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo) approach to community development, which is to promote the development of life skills such as self-awareness, internal motivation, and responsibility as a means to improved educational achievements.