Center for the Advancement of Well-Being (CWB) Senior Scholar and Department of Psychology University Professor Emeritus James Maddux recently returned from a CWB-sponsored trip to Portugal that included visits to psychology programs at three institutions of higher learning in northern Portugal. Similar to some of the countries Maddux visited in Eastern Europe, psychology in Portugal has been rebuilding over the past several decades following a period of repression during the administration of Antonia Salazar (and his successors following his death in 1968), who ruled the country from 1932 to 1974.
At the University of Porto (founded in 1911; enrollment approx. 30,000) he attended research seminars, gave two lectures on current issues in clinical psychology in the United States to doctoral students, and met with the director of the psychology department doctoral programs and other interested faculty members to discuss possible collaborations with CWB and researchers in the Department of Psychology. (Among the psychology doctoral offerings at the University of Porto is a concentration in human relationships, health, and well-being.) At the University of Minho in Braga (founded 1973; enrollment approx. 19,000), he attended research seminars, gave lectures on current issues in clinical psychology, and discussed possible future research collaborations with faculty members. Finally, at the Instituto Superior da Maia (University Institute of Maia; founded in1990; enrollment approx. 5000), he attended a research meeting of the Adaptation and Human Development Research Group (composed of faculty members from the Instituto Superior and the University of Minho; http://ardh-gi.com/missao.html), and gave a presentation on writing for publication in English-language psychology journals.
Current plans for future interactions include discussions for organizing a series of clinical psychology/well-being workshops at the University of Porto in the summer of 2015 and for research collaborations with members of the Adaptation and Human Development Research Group, including a study on the effective of life-skills training programs in Portuguese public schools.
April 21, 2014
