Docente
Alves, S.

Resume

Stephanie Alves has completed a Master Degree in Clinical and Health Psychology (2013) and received her PhD degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Coimbra in 2019. Her general area of research is the transition to parenthood, with a focus on couple-related processes and dyadic data analysis, dyadic coping, parents¿ mental health, quality of life, risk assessment and prediction in multiple domains (e.g., postpartum depression), cognitive-behavioral interventions, as well as family foster care and adoption. She published several papers, 1 book chapter, participated in more than 50 presentations at national and international scientific meetings/conferences, and received 15 rewards. Since 2009, she is a member of the Relationships, Development and Health (RD&H) research group researcher at the Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention of the University of Coimbra. Between 2013 and 2018 she has collaborated as a clinical psychologist at the Psychological Intervention Unit (UnIP) of the Maternity Daniel de Matos (CHUC, E.P.E - Coimbra). Between January 2020 and August 2022, she has conducted several research projects (within the area of family foster care and child adoption) at ProChild CoLAB (Guimarães, Portugal), a Collaborative Laboratory aiming to develop a national strategy against child poverty and social exclusion. She is the co-Principal Investigator of the ongoing project All4Children - The Integrated Model of Family Foster Care (MIAF®) to promote high-quality child welfare practices in Portugal, funded by FCT (2022.03592.PTDC). She is a member of the COST Action Euro-CAN - Multi-Response Sectorals to Child Abuse and Neglect in Europe: Incidence and Trends (CA19106), which aims to create and boost international networks, interconnect experts and stakeholders in order to promote the development of a rigorous, consistent and comparable methodology for monitoring mistreatment data, namely administrative data, in European countries. Since September 2022, she is an Assistant Professor at the School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Lusófona University (Lisbon) and an integrated member of the research unit HEI-Lab: Digital Human-Environment Interaction Labs. She supervises master theses. She is the principal investigator of the project "TIK-PT: Promoting parental and children mental health through emotion-focused parenting programs: Adaptation, implementation, and evaluation of Tuning in to Kids® in Portugal", funded by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Growing Minds nº335706), currently ongoing (2025-2027).

Graus

• Curso médio
  O doente com patologia dual nos cuidados primários de saúde
• Curso médio
  Curso Intensivo de Neuropsicofarmacologia
• Curso médio
  Curso de Língua Inglesa
• Mestrado integrado
  Integrated Master in Clinical and Health Psychology
• Curso médio
  Workshop Terapias de Casal
• Curso médio
  New Developments in Mediation and Moderation
• Curso médio
  Guidelines for publishing in international journals
• Curso médio
  Wokshop CBT for medical conditions
• Curso médio
  Curso Intensivo em SPSS AMOS
• Curso médio
  Formação Pedagógica Inicial de Formadores (CCP nº F637480/2015)
• Curso médio
  Revisão Sistemática de literatura e meta-análise em ciências da saúde
• Curso médio
  Revisões sistemáticas e meta-análises
• Curso médio
  Análise Multinível no HLM e no SPSS
• Curso médio
  Introdução à Análise de Big Data para as ciências sociais
• Curso médio
  Investigação replicável
• Curso médio
  Revisões sistemáticas e meta-análises
• Curso médio
  Assisting Individuals in Crisis
• Curso médio
  Como lidar com missing values?
• Curso médio
  Análise Multivariada (com R)
• Curso médio
  Writing High Impact Scientific Papers and Getting Them Out for Review
• Curso médio
  Curso Intensivo de Terapia de Casal (E-Learning)
• Curso médio
  Advanced mixed and multilevel models in R: Latent Growth Models & Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (ML-SEM)
• Curso médio
  Coping-oriented couple therapy: Strenghtening dyadic coping in couples
• Curso médio
  Getting published! The ins and outs of getting a manuscript accepted.
• Curso médio
  CBT for Chronic Illness
• Curso médio
  Curso de Formação associado ao Estágio Profissional da Ordem dos Psicólogos
• Doutoramento
  PhD in Clinical Psychology
• Pós-Graduação
  Postgraduate Studies in Child Protection
• Outros
  Tuning in to Kids® Facilitator

Publicações

Preprint

Journal issue

• Special issue Parenting and Mental Health
• Addressing women and men perinatal mental health: Towards a multi-dimensional approach

Journal article

• 2025-05, History of mental health problems moderates the association between partner support during childbirth and women's mental health in the postpartum period, Midwifery
• 2025-02, Protecting mothers against posttraumatic stress symptoms related to childbirth: What's the role of formal and informal support?, Midwifery
• 2025-01-19, Prenatal couple relationship satisfaction, romantic attachment, and childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms, Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2025, Perceptions about family foster care and intention of becoming a foster family: A short report , Child Abuse Review
• 2024-12-31, Development and validation of a new scale to assess motivations for fostering, Journal of Public Child Welfare
• 2024-10, Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Parents: A Systematic Review of Target Groups, Effects, and Intervention Features, Mindfulness
• 2024-08-03, From stress communication to depressive symptoms among couples facing vision impairment: The mediating role of dyadic coping, Social Science & Medicine
• 2024-05-24, The All4Children project to assess the initial implementation of the Integrated Model of Family Foster Care in Portugal: A description of the study protocol, PLOS ONE
• 2024, We-perspective on vision impairment: Pathways between couples' common dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction
• 2023-10-24, Psychometric properties of the European Portuguese version of the modified perinatal PTSD questionnaire (PPQ-II), Current Psychology
• 2023-09, Adopting a child in times of COVID-19: Lessons learned from adopters and professionals views, Children and Youth Services Review
• 2022-09-08, Post-Adoption Help-Seeking in Portugal: A Comprehensive Study on Parental Difficulties and Help-Seeking Behaviors and Perceptions, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• 2020-12-08, Perceptions of Portuguese parents about the acceptability of a multicomponent intervention targeted at behavioral inhibition during early childhood, Infant Mental Health Journal
• 2020-11, Be a Mom, a Web-Based Intervention to Prevent Postpartum Depression: Results From a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Behavior Therapy
• 2020, Linking internalizing symptoms and dyadic adjustment during pregnancy among Portuguese first-time parents: The mediating role of dyadic coping, Psychologica
• 2020, Does Dyadic Coping Predict Couples’ Postpartum Psychosocial Adjustment? A Dyadic Longitudinal Study, Frontiers in Psychology
• 2019-06-25, Intra-couple similarity in dyadic coping and partners’ adjustment to the birth of a child, European Journal of Social Psychology
• 2019-06, Romantic attachment, dyadic coping, and parental adjustment across the transition to parenthood, Personal Relationships
• 2019, What protects at-risk postpartum women from developing depressive and anxiety symptoms? The role of acceptance-focused processes and self-compassion, Journal of Affective Disorders
• 2019, Prevalence and factors associated with fertility desires/intentions among individuals in HIV-serodiscordant relationships: A systematic review of empirical studies, Journal of the International AIDS Society
• 2019, Predictive validity of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised (PDPI-R): A longitudinal study with Portuguese women, Midwifery
• 2019, Perceptions of Portuguese psychologists about the acceptability of a child intervention targeted at inhibited preschoolers, Análise Psicológica
• 2019, Be a Mom, a web-based intervention to prevent postpartum depression: The enhancement of self-regulatory skills and its association with postpartum depressive symptoms, Frontiers in Psychology
• 2018, Preventing and Treating Women’s Postpartum Depression: A Qualitative Systematic Review on Partner-Inclusive Interventions, Journal of Child and Family Studies
• 2018, Preliminary Psychometric Testing of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised (PDPI-R) in Portuguese Women, Maternal and Child Health Journal
• 2018, Dyadic coping and dyadic adjustment in couples with women with high depressive symptoms during pregnancy, Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2016, Que mães/futuras mães utilizam a internet para questões relacionadas com saúde mental? [Which mothers/expecting mothers use the internet for questions related to mental health?], Psicologia, Saúde, & Doenças
• 2015, Attachment in patients with mental health disorders: Associations with patient and partner’s adjustment, Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice
• 2014, O papel do ajustamento diádico na sintomatologia psicopatológica e qualidade de vida de doentes com perturbação psiquiátrica e dos parceiros saudáveis [The role of dyadic adjustment in psychopathological symptoms and quality of life of patients with psychiatric disorders and their healthy partners], Análise Psicológica
• 2014, Assessing quality of life in middle-aged and older adults with HIV: Psychometric testing of the WHOQOL-HIV-Bref, Quality of Life Research

Thesis / Dissertation

• 2019, PhD, Transition to parenthood in a parenthood in transition: from women- to couples-based approaches
• 2013, Master, Influência da vinculação no adulto na associação entre o ajustamento diádico e o ajustamento individual: um estudo comparativo com casais com perturbação mental e casais da população geral [Influence of adult attachment on the association between dyadic adjustment and individual adjustment: A comparative study with couples with mental disorder and couples from general population]

Book chapter

• 2016, Escala de Resiliência para Adultos (ERA) [Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA)], Instrumentos de Avaliação Familiar: Vol. II – Vulnerabilidade, Stress e Adaptação, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra

Manual

• 2024, Adopt Mindful 2 Care – Web: Manual de Conteúdos [Content manual of a web-based psychological intervention based on mindful principles for adoptive parents]. Não publicado [Not published].
• 2024, Adopt Mindful 2 Care – Dual: Intervenção Psicológica baseada nos princípios da parentalidade Mindful para pais adotivos (Manual do terapeuta) [Psychological intervention based on mindful principles for adoptive parents (Therapist manual)]. Não publicado [Not published]., Não publicado

Conference paper

• 2013, Estudos preliminares das características psicométricas da Escala de Resiliência para Adultos (ERA), VIII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia

Conference abstract

• 2024, Relationships between coparenting and dyadic adjustment among adoptive parents: The moderating role of adult attachment., IV CINEICC International Congress
• 2024, Adoptive parents' receptivity and preferences regarding mindful parenting interventions: an exploratory study on couples' agreement, IV CINEICC International Congress
• 2023, Positive mental health in adoptive parents: Do coparenting and dyadic adjustment play a similar role?. , 37th European Health Psychology Society Conference
• 2023, Exploring and explaining couples' psychological interdependence during the post-adoption period: The role of dyadic adjustment, 37th European Health Psychology Society Conference
• 2023, Development of a mindful parenting intervention for Portuguese adoptive parents: An overview., 9th International Congress of Clinical and Health Psychology in Children and Adolescents
• 2022-11, A Portuguese study on adoptive couples' acceptability and preferences regarding mindful parenting interventions., 8th International Congress of Clinical and Health Psychology in Children and Adolescents
• 2021, Post-adoption parental difficulties: An exploration of child, parent and adoption correlates in a Portuguese sample of adoptive parents, 7º Congress on Adoption Research
• 2021, Post-adoption help-seeking: A comprehensive study on parents' perceived utility of professional support and barriers to seek help, 7º Congress on Adoption Research
• 2018, Vinculação e ajustamento parental de casais durante a transição para a parentalidade [abstract], 12º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde - Promover e Inovar em Psicologia da Saúde
• 2017, How to explain couple’s emotional interdependence during the perinatal period? Exploring the indirect effects of dyadic coping [abstract], 37th Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2017, Does dyadic coping predict couple’s postpartum quality of life? Exploring longitudinal actor and partner effects [abstract], 31st European Health Psychology Society Conference
• 2017, Does dyadic coping during pregnancy predict postpartum parenting stress differently among primiparous and multiparous parents? [abstract], 37th Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2017, Bidirectional relationships between stress communication and psychological distress in couples during the transition to parenthood [abstract], 31st European Health Psychology Society Conference
• 2016, Variáveis diádicas numa gravidez subsequente a perda gestacional: impacto na adaptação individual, 11º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde
• 2016, Variáveis diádicas numa gravidez subsequente a perda gestacional: impacto na adaptação individual [abstract], 11º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde: “Desafios da Psicologia da Saúde num mundo em mudança”
• 2016, Que mães/futuras mães utilizam a internet para questões relacionadas com saúde mental? , 11º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde

Conference poster

• 2024-08, Optimizing the implementation of the Integrated Model of Family Foster Care (MIAF): A research-action approach, ISPCAN Congress Sweden 2024
• 2024-08, A study on the process evaluation of recruitment, assessment, and training of foster families in Portugal, ISPCAN Congress Sweden 2024
• 2024-07, A we-perspective on vision loss: Exploring pathways between couples' common dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) International Conference
• 2023-12, Prenatal depression symptoms are associated with fear of childbirth during pregnancy: Preliminary results of the INTERSECT Portuguese study, V Encontro Anual do Grupo de Língua Portuguesa da Sociedade Marcé
• 2023-12, Exclusive breastfeeding moderates the association between childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and mother-infant bonding difficulties: Preliminary findings from the INTERSECT Portuguese study, V Encontro Anual do Grupo de Língua Portuguesa da Sociedade Marcé
• 2023-11, Dyadic adjustment, coparenting, parenting stress, and child’s adjustment after adoption: A serial mediation model , 9th International Congress of Clinical and Health Psychology in Children and Adolescents
• 2023-07, Motivações para ser Família de Acolhimento em Portugal [Reasons for becoming a foster family in Portugal], Risco, Perigo e Resiliência Familiar: Vozes cruzadas da investigação e da intervenção
• 2023-03, Medical support during pregnancy and mother-infant bonding: A serial multiple mediation model of satisfaction with childbirth and postpartum posttraumatic stress symptoms, IV Congresso Internacional do CINEICC
• 2023-03, Explaining anxiety symptoms in adoptive parents: Do coparenting and dyadic adjustment play a similar role?, IV Congresso Internacional do CINEICC
• 2022-11, Family Foster Care In-Service Training: What do Foster Carers prefer?, 8th International Congress of Clinical and Health Psychology on Children and Adolescents
• 2022-10, The mediating role of perinatal trauma in the association between negative perception of childbirth and maternal stress during COVID-19 pandemic, VIII Encontro Ser Bebé
• 2021-07-07, Post-adoption mindful parenting interventions: Acceptability and preferences of Portuguese adoptive parents, 7th International Conference on Adoption Research
• 2020, Que mulheres estão em maior risco de virem a desenvolver depressão pós-parto? [Which women are more at-risk of developing postpartum depression?], 13º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde
• 2020, Perceptions of Portuguese families about the impact of the Turtle Program, 13º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde
• 2019, What do Portuguese parents think about the acceptability of the multi-component intervention for inhibited preschoolers?, 5th International Congress of Clinical and Health Psychology on Children and Adolescents
• 2019, Dyadic adult attachment style and dyadic coping behaviors among couples during pregnancy, 2019 Mini IARR Conference on Applied Relationships
• 2018, What protects at-risk postpartum women from developing depressive and anxiety symptoms? The role of acceptance-focused processes, 38th Annual SRIP Conference
• 2018, User’s perceptions about Be a Mom: Comparing completers and non-completers of a web-based intervention to prevent postpartum depression, 48th Annual Congress of the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (EABCT)
• 2018, Long-term effects of couples’ similarity in dyadic coping on postpartum dyadic adjustment, 9th Congress of the European Society on Family Relations
• 2018, Does similarity in dyadic coping matters? A prospective longitudinal Study with couples during the transition to parenthood, PsihD – 2ª Mostra de Doutoramento em Psicologia da FPCEUC
• 2018, A systematic review of factors associated with fertility desires/intentions among individuals in serodiscordant relationships for HIV, PsihD – 2ª Mostra de Doutoramento em Psicologia da FPCEUC
• 2017, Longitudinal relationships between dyadic and psychosocial adjustment across the transition to parenthood, PsihD – 1ª Mostra de Doutoramento em Psicologia da FPCEUC
• 2017, How to explain couple’s emotional interdependence during the perinatal period? Exploring the indirect effects of dyadic coping, 37th Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2017, Does dyadic coping during pregnancy predict postpartum parenting stress differently among primiparous and multiparous parents?, 37th Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2017, Bidirectional relationships between stress communication and psychological distress in couples during the transition to parenthood, 31st European Health Psychology Society Conference
• 2016, Variáveis diádicas numa gravidez subsequente a perda gestacional: Impacto na adaptação individual [[Dyadic variables in a subsequent pregnancy to gestational loss: impact in individual adaptation], 11º Congresso Nacional de Psicologia da Saúde: “Desafios da Psicologia da Saúde num mundo em mudança”
• 2016, A systematic review of partner-inclusive interventions to prevent or treat women’s postpartum depression, 36st Annual Conference of the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
• 2015, Vinculação pré-natal, adaptação individual e preocupações parentais numa gravidez subsequente a uma perda gestacional [Prenatal attachment, individual adaptation and parenting worries in a subsequent pregnancy to gestational loss], 3º Congresso Internacional do CINEICC / 3º Congresso Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Terapia do Comportamento
• 2015, Reliability and validity of the Portuguese version of the Revised Anticipated Sexual Jealousy Scale, 3º Congresso Internacional do CINEICC / 3º Congresso Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Terapia do Comportamento
• 2015, Qualidade de vida e ajustamento diádico de casais num contexto de perturbação psiquiátrica: Qual o papel das dimensões de vinculação? [Quality of life and dyadic adjustment of couples in the context of psychiatric disorder: What is the role of attachment-related dimensions?], II Congresso em Psicologia da ULP - (Des)construindo famílias: Propostas de investigação e intervenção
• 2015, Psychometric studies of the Dual Coping Inventory in a sample of bereaved parents, 3º Congresso Internacional do CINEICC / 3º Congresso Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Terapia do Comportamento
• 2015, O processo de oscilação no processamento dual de coping face à perda de um filho: qual o contributo da relação conjugal?, II Congresso em Psicologia da ULP - (Des)construindo famílias: Propostas de investigação e intervenção
• 2015, O modelo de investimento de Rusbult nas relações amorosas: Associação com as representações de vinculação e o papel moderador do género [Rusbult Investment Model in romantic relationship: associations with attachment representations and the moderating role of gender], 3º Congresso Internacional do CINEICC / 3º Congresso Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Terapia do Comportamento
• 2014, Resilience in couples facing a psychiatric disorder acts as a protective factor against psychological distress and impaired quality of life, 21st Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research
• 2014, Couples similarity in attachment styles and its relation to psychological distress and quality of life among men with a psychiatric disorder and their spouses, 44th Annual Congress of European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies
• 2013, Pathological gambling: just an impulse control disorder? Dual pathology in avoidant personality disorder, II International Congress on Dual Disorders: Addictions and other mental disorders
• 2013, Jogo patológico: e se não for só uma Perturbação do Controlo dos Impulsos? O papel de variáveis psicológicas, de personalidade e ambientais, II Congresso de Patologia Dual e Comportamentos aditivos – Tratar o doente dual: desafios para a Psiquiatria do Séc. XXI
• 2013, Estudos preliminares das características psicométricas da Escala de Resiliência para Adultos (ERA), VIII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia
• 2013, Drogas novas… ou velhas disfarçadas? Smart Shops, “drogas legais” e… nova geração de dependentes?, II Congresso de Patologia Dual e Comportamentos aditivos – Tratar o doente dual: desafios para a Psiquiatria do Séc. XXI
• 2013, Adaptação de casais num contexto de perturbação psiquiátrica: O papel do ajustamento diádico na adaptação do doente e do parceiro saudável [Adjustment of couples in the context of psychiatric disorders: The role of dyadic adjustment in the adjustment of the ill and healthy partner], VIII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia

Other output

• 2024, Portuguese version of the Parent Emotional Style Questionnaire (PESQ) , Self-report instrument for assessing parental beliefs and practices in children's emotional socialization
• 2024, Portuguese version of the Dyadic Coping Inventory for Financial Stress , Self-report instrument for assessing dyadic coping with financial stress
• 2024, Portuguese version of the Couple Flourishing Measure (CFM) , Self-report instrument for assessing marital flourishing in adults in a romantic relationship
• 2024, Portuguese version of the Coparenting of Children’s Emotion Scale (CCES) , Self-report instrument to assess the co-parenting relationship in terms of the child's emotional regulation
• 2024, Intervenções pós-adoção promotoras de parentalidade mindful (IPM): Aceitabilidade e preferências dos pais e casais adotivos portugueses [Post-adoption interventions promoting mindful parenting (IPM): Acceptability and preferences of Portuguese adoptive parents and couples], Infografia [Infographic aimed at selecting, integrating and summarising some of the results achieved through the different studies of the MF project which, due to their applied scope, could be particularly useful to Social Security Organisations in terms of planning and providing support services to post-adoption families]
• 2023, Portuguese version of the Modified perinatal PTSD questionnaire (PPQ-II) , Self-report instrument for assessing post-traumatic stress symptoms related to the birth of the baby in mothers during the period after childbirth
• 2018, Portuguese validation of the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory (Beck, 2002)