Ida Mälarstig
About me
Psychologist/Phd-student driven by the aim to increase knowledge and access to psychological treatment for adolescents struggling with substance use and criminality in institutional care.
- My research focuses on evaluating and adjusting psychological treatment to the lockable setting of institutional care and the target group adolescents struggling with substance use and criminality. Currently I am running a pragmatic multi-center RCT to evaluate the effect of the treatment Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach on substance use, problem behaviours and criminality. I also coordinate a network of researchers interested in children and youth involved in criminal groups at KI/CPF, focusing on the psychological/psychiatric and individual aspects of risk assessments and treatment.
I have a strong interested in the provision of psychological treatment for vulnerable and disenfrachised groups in society. Before I started my doctoral studies I worked in a psychiatric clinic for refugees and asylum-seekers, specializing in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, especially Prolonged Exposure and Narrative Exposure Therapy. In 2021 I wrote a report on interpreter-mediated psychological treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, in collaboration with Stockholm University and the Centre for Psychiatry Research at KI, funded by Region Stockholm.
- I am a board member of the Nätverket for Global psykisk hälsa, an organization that aims to disseminate knowledge, facilitate collaboration and improve Sweden's work in the field of mental health, locally and globally.
Earlier in my career, I worked with psychological treatment for depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders, using Acceptance and
- Commitment Therapy, with a special interest in Relational Frame Theory.
- I finished the Psychotherapist program with an additional exam as a
- Specialist in Clinical Psychology at Stockholm University in the spring of 2022.
My main supervisor is Sven Alfonsson. Tobias Lundgren and Hanna Sahlin at Karolinska Institute, Centre for Psychiatry Research, and Mårten Tyrberg at Uppsala University, are co-supervisors.
Majblommans forskningsmedel 2023Stiftelens Frimurare Barnhuset doktorandanslag 2024
Psychotherapist and Specialist in Clinical Psychology, Stockholm University, - 2018-2022.
Master of Science in Psychology, Stockholm University, 2008-2013.
Research
- Project Manager and PhD-student in a research project on evaluating and adjusting a behavioral treatment, the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach, A-CRA, to compulsory institutional care for youth with criminal behavior and substance use disorder.
The studies in my thesis are
1) A randomized pilot study to evaluate feasibility of treatment (A-CRA) and high quality study procedures
2) A multi-center randomized controlled study to evaluate treatment effects of A-CRA in compulsory institutional care, short term and long term
3) An interview studie to investigate the experiences of the counselors conducting A-CRA in compulsory institutional care
4) An interview studie to investigate the experiences of the adolescents undergoing A-CRA in compulsory institutional care, furthermore how they percieve their problems, why they started using substances and got engaged in criminality.
5) A mixed methods single case study to study the interaction between prosocial-, drugrelated and aggressive behaviour in young adolescents (12-in institutional care
Articles
- Article: CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES REVIEW. 2023;148:106850