I am a clinical psychologist since 2000 and chronic illness has been always a topic of my interest during my academic career.
In the last 5 years, as a result of my doctoral and post-doctorate process, I focused my expertise on quality of life and psychosocial variables (resilience, self-regulation, physical/psychological symptoms and social support) in young people with chronic illness, as well as in the interconnection with their surrounding contexts (health professionals, parents, teachers and peer groups).
The knowledge acquired allowed to identify priority intervention areas, which hopefully contribute in the future for improvements in research and in health/education policies. This is specifically relevant in the Portuguese chronic conditions context, once psychosocial evaluation and interventions in adolescents are still not systematic and usual.