Jorge Gaete

• MD, MSc, PhD
• Fellow at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Abstract Background Few studies in Latin America have explored mental disorder among young offenders, or variables associated with it. Aims Our aim was to test for associations between childhood adversity or substance misuse and psychiatric disorders among young offenders. Methods Sentenced adolescent offenders were recruited from young offende...

We studied the association between individual and contextual variables and the use of tobacco, alcohol, or cannabis in the last 30 days preceding the study, considering the hierarchical nature of students nested in schools. We used the 7th Chilean National School Survey of Substance Use (2007) covering 45,273 students (aged 12e21 years old) along w...

Background: Bullying is a major problem worldwide and Chile is no exception. Bullying is defined as a systematic aggressive behavior against a victim who cannot defend him or herself. Victims suffer social isolation and psychological maladjustment, while bullies have a higher risk for conduct problems and substance use disorders. These problems ap...

School membership appears to be an important factor in explaining the relationship between students and schools, including school staff. School membership is associated with several school-related outcomes, such as academic performance and expectations. Most studies on school membership have been conducted in developed countries. The Psychological...

Adolescent tobacco smoking is a major health concern in Chile. Schools may be able to influence adolescent behaviour regarding smoking; however, this topic has received limited research attention in Latin-American countries. Moreover, the prevalence of cigarette smoking varies between schools, and some of this variability may be explained by school...

Introduction Substance use among adolescents is a public health problem. We culturally adapted The Social Competence Promotion Program for Young Adolescents (SCPP-YA) program to the school context in Chile (henceforth “Mi Mejor Plan or MMP”) and assessed the acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, and quality of the implementation among 6th graders....

Mental health disparities have been reported among sexual minority individuals; minority stress theory posits that such disparities are a result of stigma and discrimination. We estimated the prevalence of mental disorders across sexual orientation groups among first-year college students and whether differences across sexual orientation groups var...

Suicide is a major cause of death among adolescents, with suicidal ideation (SI) being a common symptom in this group. SI arises from a complex mix of biological, environmental, and psychological factors, however, the specific relationships between them is not yet fully understood. Network theory has been proposed as a promising framework to analyz...

Introduction. Substance use among adolescents is a public health problem. We culturally adapted The Social Competence Promotion Program for Young Adolescents (SCPP-YA) program to the school context in Chile (henceforth “Mi Mejor Plan or MMP”) and assessed the acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, and quality of the implementation among 6 th graders...

Background Mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of illness globally. The importance of psychosocial skills acquired in early childhood, such as executive functions, inhibitory control, emotional regulation, and social problem-solving, in preventing mental disorders has been reported. Furthermore, mental health care delivery is evol...

Suicide prevention programs delivered in school settings have been shown to reduce suicide attempts and ideation among adolescents. School-based digital interventions targeting at-risk youth are a promising avenue for suicide prevention, and some evidence has shown that blending digital and face-to-face components may improve the effectiveness. How...

Background Suicide prevention programs delivered in school settings have been shown to reduce suicide attempts and ideation among adolescents. School-based digital interventions targeting at-risk youth are a promising avenue for suicide prevention, and some evidence has shown that blending digital and face-to-face components may improve the effecti...

Introduction The consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis is a public health problem that impacts the cognitive, social, and emotional development of adolescents. Prevention strategies such as the “Unplugged” program are effective in delaying the progression of daily smoking and episodes of drunkenness among adolescents. “Yo Se Lo Que Quiero”...

Background Suicide prevention programs delivered in school settings have been shown to reduce suicide attempts and ideation among adolescents. School-based digital interventions targeting at-risk youth are a promising avenue for suicide prevention, and some evidence has shown that blending digital and face-to-face components may improve the effecti...

The global expansion of higher education has led to an increased enrollment of first-generation students, presenting opportunities and challenges for institutions. Despite efforts to support these students, they often face lower graduation rates and higher dropout rates. Among the factors influencing student success, the sense of belonging has emer...

Purpose To examine the differences in mental health problems by sexual orientation and gender identity in first-year university students in Chile during the pandemic. Methods: 7,213 first-year students aged 18 years and older from five universities participated as part of the World Mental Health - International College Student initiative in Chile....

Background: The association between technology and mental health problems among adolescents has been widely studied. However, little is known about this relationship in rural contexts, characterized by poverty, isolation, and low-income family environments. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between experiences of online ris...

Introduction. The consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana is a public health problem that impacts the cognitive, social, and emotional development of adolescents. Prevention strategies such as the "Unplugged" program are effective in delaying the progression of daily smoking and episodes of drunkenness among adolescents. "Yo Se Lo Que Quiero...

Psychotic symptoms are relatively common in children and adolescents attending mental health services. On most occasions, their presence is not associated with a primary psychotic disorder, and their clinical significance remains understudied. No studies to date have evaluated the prevalence and clinical correlates of psychotic symptoms in children...

Background Experiential avoidance (EA) is a psychological mechanism associated with several mental health disorders and is regarded as a relevant target by third-generation cognitive behavioral therapies. It has been mainly assessed through self-report questionnaires, and the AAQ-II is the most used tool. Its psychometric evidence has been mostly t...

Suicide ideation is prevalent and associated with negative adolescent outcomes, including psychopathology and suicide-related behaviors. Despite the increasing research aimed at improving the capability to predict, the evidence on which of the available tools is best for specific populations or settings, such as educational settings, is inconclusiv...

Introduction Psychosocial functioning is closely associated with psychopathology and wellbeing in different populations, particularly adolescents. Despite its relevance, measures assessing psychosocial functioning in healthy adolescents are scant as most focus on adults or clinical populations. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Multid...

Background The high prevalence of mental disorders in early adolescents, and their consequences, encourage the need for validated instruments to identify and assess psychosocial problems. Objectives i) To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) questionnaires (PSC-Y, 35 items, and PSC-17...

Background: Schools are increasingly experiencing physical, psychological, and sexual violence, which impacts students' academic achievement and physical and emotional health. Our objective was to identify regional prevalence rates, average prevalence by aggressor type, and provincial spatial conglomerates with higher rates for each type of school...

Background Evidence suggests that children from low-income families begin the preschool stage with less academic and non-academic skills development compared to higher-income families. There are several successful experiences of early stimulation of cognitive and social-emotional skills; however, there is scarce evidence of the effectiveness of a v...

Background Substance use is highly prevalent among children and adolescents in Chile, and it is known how it impacts their health and social adjustment. The call for effective prevention of substance use among children adolescents has resulted in numerous school-based programs, and particularly, the Social Competence Promotion Program among Young A...

Bullying is a major health problem. The KiVa antibullying program has been evaluated in Finland and other European countries, showing preventive effects on self-reported bullying victimization and perpetration. No evaluations of this program have been conducted in Latin America. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted at socially vulner...

Background Mental health problems among undergraduates are a significant public health concern. Most studies exploring mental health in this population during the pandemic have been conducted in high-income countries. Fewer studies come from Latin American countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stre...

Background Substance use is among the main contributors to disease among children and adolescents in the Americas region. The call for effective prevention of substance use among adolescents has resulted in numerous school-based programs, and particularly the Unplugged program has been proved to be successful in reducing the prevalence of different...

Introduction: In the last years, there has been a rise in the use of technology among children and adolescents, which has led to a greater concern about its impact on their socioemotional and cognitive development. Aims: To explore the time spent using technology, the risk perception of its use by students, and the association between frequency of...

Mental health-related stigma is poorly understood, and minimal research has focused on the experience of stigma from children’s perspectives. We sought to investigate whether children treated as inpatients and outpatients had different experiences of stigma over time and whether stigma is linked to global functioning cross-sectionally and longitudi...

Background Substance use is highly prevalent among Chilean adolescents, and the damage it causes at the neurobiological, psychological, and social levels is known. However, there are no validated screening instruments that also assess risk and protective factors for this population in Chile, which is essential for evaluating future prevention inter...

La realización de actividad física está relacionada con una reducción del riesgo cardiovascular y patologías mentales, especialmente sobre 150 minutos semanales (“deportistas”). Objetivo: Establecer la prevalencia de deportistas entre los estudiantes de pregrado de la Universidad de los Andes y el porcentaje de ésta por carrera.

La prevalencia de problemas de salud mental en estudiantes de medicina ha sido largamente estudiada, sin embargo, su estado durante la pandemia cuenta con escasa información, siendo esta necesaria para implementar medidas de prevención, debido a la asociación entre patología mental y otras enfermedades sistémicas. Objetivo: Establecer la prevalenci...

PRIMER LUGAR - CATEGORIA ALUMNOS LII Curso Anual de Medicina Interna: “Medicina Interna en los Nuevos Tiempos” del Capítulo Chileno del American College of Physicians La prevalencia de VIH e Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (ITS) no VIH entre estudiantes universitarios chilenos es desconocida. Objetivo: Establecer la prevalencia de ITS entre los...

Bullying is a phenomenon that affects children and adolescents worldwide, and it has major consequences for all participants involved in these situations. In Chile, researchers have validated several instruments used to investigate aggression between peers and school violence, but there is a lack of validation of instruments to investigate bullying...

Background School violence and bullying are prevalent problems that affect health in general, especially through the development of emotional and behavioral problems, and can result in the deterioration of the academic performance of the student victim. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence rates of aggressive behaviors accord...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01281.].

Aim The aim of this study was to compare clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes between children with Childhood‐onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders (COSS) and children with other severe non‐psychotic psychiatric conditions (non‐COSS), all admitted to a national mental health inpatient children's unit. Methods We conducted a retrospecti...

Objective: The aims of this study were twofold. First, to provide evidence of the validity and reliability of the Adolescent Lifestyle Profile-Revised 2 (ALP-R2) among adolescents in Chile; and second, to examine the relationship between the health-promoting behaviors measured by this scale and several demographic variables. Methods: Cross-sectiona...

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience reading comprehension difficulties, often misinterpreting complex texts, metaphors, and idioms. We have developed and tested a new assistive technology tool for adaptive, personalized text simplification, called Open Book. This tool is an open-sourced, online platform that uses Natural Language...

Introduction: Evidence from developed countries shows the efficacy of computer-assisted cognitive-behavioral therapy (cCBT) in addressing adolescent depression in home and/or school settings. This paper presents the results of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a brief therapist-guided cCBT intervention for adolescent depression in resource-con...

Background Difficulties with delaying gratification, coping with frustration, and regulating emotions are significant predictors of aggression and behavioural and interpersonal problems early in life and mental health disorders during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Mental health problems generate a high burden of disease in society in gener...

Background: Children in mental health inpatient care require multiple treatments. There is not a comprehensive instrument to assess perceived helpfulness of this combination of interventions. Aims: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the What was Helpful Questionnaire (WHQ), a tool designed to capture parental perceived helpfulne...

Background Substance use among adolescents is a major problem worldwide, producing many health and economic consequences. Even though there are well-known personal, familial, and social factors associated with drug use, less is known about the effect of school-related factors. School membership is a recognized variable affecting academic performanc...

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening tool used to measure psychological functioning among children and adolescents. It has been extensively used worldwide, but its psychometric properties, such as internal structure and reliability, seem to vary across countries. This is the first study exploring the construct validity...

General practitioners (GPs) report high levels of distress. This study examined whether a brief blended web- based mindfulness intervention could be effective at enhancing well-being for GPs and assessed the possible mediating role of awareness. An open uncontrolled trial, with pre-post measurements, was conducted. The programme comprised one face-...

Introducción: El suicidio es la segunda causa mundial de mortalidad en personas de 15 a 29 años, por ende, su prevención es fundamental. En Chile no existen programas implementados en colegios para capacitar a profesores en la prevención de estas conductas. Se diseñó una capacitación orientada a profesores para conocer si esta estrategia es efectiv...

Introduction: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 15-29 years, therefore, prevention is essential. There are no programs implemented in chilean's schools to train teachers in the prevention of these behaviors. A training was designed to teachers to know if this strategy is effective in the improvement of the self-percepti...

Being involved in bullying as a victim or perpetrator could have deleterious health consequences. Even though there is some evidence that bullies and victims of bullying have a higher risk for drug use, less is known about bystanders. The aim of this research was to study the association between bullying experience (as victims, bullies, or bystande...

Background: The promotion of healthy behaviors is a relevant issue worldwide, especially among adolescent populations, as this is the developmental stage where most unhealthy behaviors become ingrained. Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Adolescent Health Promotion Scale (AHPS)...

Background: The use of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) as a single measure has been pointed out as problematic by many authors and its originally proposed structure has repeatedly been called into question. The negative facets of this construct are more strongly related to psychopathology than the positive indicators. The aim of this study was to e...

Background: Depression is a disabling condition affecting people of all ages, but generally starting during adolescence. Schools seem to be an excellent setting where preventive interventions may be delivered. This study aimed to test the effectiveness of an indicated school-based intervention to reduce depressive symptoms among at-risk adolescent...

Background: Family behavior models may influence health promoting conducts among adolescents. Aim: To determine the association between health promoting behaviors among parents and healthy behaviors of early adolescents. Material and Methods: Analysis of the baseline assessment of a longitudinal study of early adolescents in the city of San Felipe,...

BACKGROUND Family behavior models may influence health promoting conducts among adolescents. AIM To determine the association between health promoting behaviors among parents and healthy behaviors of early adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHODS Analysis of the baseline assessment of a longitudinal study of early adolescents in the city of San Felipe,...

Mental health problems among adolescents are prevalent and are associated with important difficulties for a normal development during this period and later in life. Understanding better the risk factors associated with mental health problems may help to design and implement more effective preventive interventions. Several personal and family risk f...

Background: Smoking and alcohol use are risky behaviors that can start early in life. Aim: To determine the lifetime prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use in adolescents aged 10 to 14 years and related factors. Subjects and methods: A survey about smoking and alcohol use was answered by 1,392 teenagers aged 10 to 14 years (46% women) from seve...

Smoking and alcohol use are risky behaviors that can start early in life. Aim: To determine the lifetime prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use in adolescents aged 10 to 14 years and related factors. Subjects and Methods: A survey about smoking and alcohol use was answered by 1,392 teenagers aged 10 to 14 years (46% women) from seven schools in a sm...

Depression is a disabling condition affecting people of all ages, but generally starting during adolescence. Schools seem to be an excellent setting where preventive interventions may be delivered. This study aimed to test the effectiveness of an indicated school-based intervention to reduce depressive symptoms among at-risk adolescents from low-in...

School membership appears to be an important factor in explaining the relationship between students and schools, including school staff. School membership is associated with several school-related outcomes, such as academic performance and expectations. Most studies on school membership have been conducted in developed countries. The Psychological...

The use of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) as a single measure has been pointed out as problematic by many authors and its originally proposed structure has repeatedly been called into question. The negative facets of this construct are more strongly related to psychopathology than the positive indicators. The aim of this study was to evaluate and...

Introducción. Existen antecedentes que la salud mental de la población infanto-juvenil en Chile es un problema importante de salud pública, por tanto es urgente conocer en detalle los factores relacionados. Principalmente, se han identificado factores familiares (por ejemplo, salud mental de los padres y el funcionamiento familiar) e individuales (...

Palabras Claves: Promoción de salud, Profesores, Enseñanza Básica. Introducción. Las conductas promotoras de salud se han asociado a un menor desarrollo de enfermedades crónicas, tales como hipertensión arterial y diabetes mellitus tipo 2. Muchas de estas conductas se van desarrollando tempranamente, y estarían influenciadas por los estilos de vida...

Background: The objective of the research was to study the association between school bonding dimensions (school commitment and school attachment) and current adolescent smoking in Chile, controlling for confounding variables using the fifth Chilean School Population National Substance Use Survey, 2003 (CHSS-2003) data set. Methods: The CHSS-200...

Distintos estudios a nivel nacional e internacional han descrito una alta prevalencia de trastornos psiquiátricos en jóvenes infractores de ley, sin embargo hay poca información sobre qué factores se relacionan a estos trastornos. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar la asociación de factores individuales relacionados a eventos biográficos, co...

El consumo de sustancias de abuso (tabaco, alcohol y marihuana) en adolescentes es un problema de salud pública. Muchos adolescentes que comienzan a consumir tempranamente lo seguirán haciendo durante adultos. Por otro lado, los trastornos depresivos suelen aparecer en la adolescencia, generando deterioros importantes en el desarrollo de los indivi...

Background: There has been a significant number of adolescents admitted to National Youth Service of Chile (SENAME) detention centers in recent years, specifically since the promulgation of a law reform on juveniles' penal responsibility for people aged 14 to 18 years (2006). Aim: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adolescen...

Background: There has been a significant number of adolescents admitted to National Youth Service of Chile (SENAME) detention centers in recent years, specifically since the promulgation of a law reform on juveniles' penal responsibility for people aged 14 to 18 years (2006). Aim: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adolescent m...

Background: Health-promoting lifestyle choices of adolescents are closely related to current and subsequent health status. However, parsimonious yet reliable and valid screening tools are scarce. The original 40-item adolescent health promotion (AHP) scale was developed by our research team and has been applied to measure adolescent health-promotin...

Introducción. El estudio de la influencia de factores contextuales en el consumo de tabaco, alcohol y marihuana en adolescentes ha sido escaso, y requiere de análisis de asociación multinivel. Objetivo.Determinar la existencia de una variabilidad del consumo de tabaco, alcohol y marihuana dependiente del colegio, y determinar qué factores contextua...

Introducción. El uso de tabaco y alcohol en adolescentes es aún un problema de salud pública en Chile. Objetivo. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar la prevalencia de vida del consumo de tabaco y alcohol y sus factores relacionados, en jóvenes entre 10 y 14 años. Metodología. Siete colegios de la comuna de San Felipe (V Región, Chile), repre...