Kirsi Peltonen profile picture

Kirsi
Peltonen

Professor, INVEST Research Flagship Centre
PhD
Professor of Psychology at INVEST Research Flagship Centre, University of Turku.

Contact

Links

https://www.utu.fi/en/people/kirsi-peltonen
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kirsi-Peltonen-2?ev=hdr_xprf
ORCID

Areas of expertise

child mental health
intervention effectiveness
RCT
immigrants
psychological trauma

Biography

I am a Professor of Psychology at INVEST Research Flagship Centre, University of Turku, Finland. My research has focused on the impact of war and violence on child and adolescent development. My main interest is on the effectiveness of interventions supporting mental health and treating trauma symptoms. Implementing research into society has been an important part of my work. I have trained professionals in multiple fields to support traumatized children and she holds several positions of trust in the field of mental health both nationally and internationally.

Teaching

I am one of the three lead instructors in the Specialist Training Program for Child and Adolescent Psychologists (Lasten ja Nuorten erikosipsykologkoulutus, LaNu)

I teach at INVEST Master and Doctoral programs about prevention and intervention, migration and ethnicity etc. I also supervise master- and doctoral thesis in the field of child mental health, trauma and cognitions.

Research

My research has focused on the impact of war and violence on child and adolescent development. My main interest is on the effectiveness of interventions supporting mental health and treating trauma symptoms. Implementing research into society has also been an important part of my work.

Publications

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Patterns of mental health problems and resilience among immigrant and refugee adolescents: a latent profile analysis (2025)

European Journal of Psychotraumatology
Aalto, Sanni; Punamäki, Raija-Leena; Vänskä, Mervi; Kankaanpää, Reeta; Turunen, Tiina; Lahtinen, Oskari; Derluyn, Ilse; Spaas, Caroline; De Haene, Lucia; Smith Jervelund, Signe; Skovdal, Morten; Andersen, Arnfinn J.; Opaas, Marianne; Osman, Fatumo; Sarkadi, Anna; Durbeej, Natalie; Soye, Emma; Peltonen, Kirsi
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )

Combining mental health and climate-smart agricultural interventions to improve food security in humanitarian settings: study protocol for the THRIVE cluster-randomized controlled trial with mothers in Nakivale refugee settlement, Uganda (2025)

Trials
Hall, Jonathan; Ainamani, Herbert E.; Vassiliou, Phaidon T. B.; Döring, Stefan; Gredebäck, Gustaf; Peltonen, Kirsi; Scharpf, Florian; Sen, Umay; Sutter, Matthias; Walsh, James I.; Hecker, Tobias
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )

Migrant students’ self-reported executive function skills in relation to mental health, postmigration stress, and positive appraisals of self and the social context (2024)

European Journal of Psychotraumatology
Opaas, Marianne; Wentzel-Larsen, Tore; Nissen, Alexander; Hilden, Per Kristian; Punamäki, Raija-Leena; Spaas, Caroline; Jervelund, Signe Smith; Kankaanpää, Reeta; Skovdal, Morten; Peltonen, Kirsi; De Haene, Lucia; de Smet, Sofie; Verelst, An; Derluyn, Ilse; Andersen, Arnfinn J.
(A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä )
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