National Faculty of Public Health

Notable Projects

• Suicide risk in school adolescents of the Northeast area. Code: INV-215-06.
• Suicide risk in school adolescents of the Northwest area of Medellin, 2010. Code: INV-336-10.
• Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the ISO-30 instrument (Inventory of Suicide Orientation - ISO 30) in a sample of adolescent students’ population. Medellín — Colombia, 2010-2012. Code: INV 410-12.
• Mental health indicators in school adolescents of the municipality of Villahermosa — Tolima. INV-13.
• Mental health indicators in school adolescents of the municipality of Marinilla– Antioquia, 2015. Agreement between the Mayor’s Office and the FNSP (National School of Public Health). INV-15.

Main Research Results

In a decade of studies, six public health issues in the adolescent population have been identified:

• The risk of suicide orientation, which is located before the suicidal ideation and affects approximately one out of two students;
• The presence of depressive symptoms with a prevalence in one out of every four students;
• Familiar dysfunction that occurs in three out of five families of adolescents;
• Family vulnerability in which there is a risk that the family does not respond appropriately to the daily issues of its members in matters such as chatting, walking together, eating together, recognizing each other, etc., is present in three out of five families of students;
• Consumption of psychoactive substances in which alcoholic beverages, cigars, and marijuana stand out as the three main consumed substances, in that order. The problem is that the average age of consumption is decreasing and is set at 11 years old; the increase of compulsive consumption of alcoholic beverages is also of concern, in which drinking two or three drinks of liquor can not be stopped;
• The appropriate use of spare time where personal growth activities occur in the following fields: artistic, sports, cultural, and socialization with their peers. Studies show that two out of five students use their spare time properly.

Research Portafolio