About
Terja Ristkari serves as Development Manager and Doctoral Researcher at the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry, University of Turku. Her work focuses on advancing child mental health through research-driven digital and school-based interventions for children and families in Finland.
Her research spans child psychiatry, mental health interventions, digital health solutions (including internet-based CBT and parenting programs), anxiety disorders, and disruptive behavior disorders. She specializes in evaluating program efficacy, cultural adaptation, and real-world implementation in Finnish primary schools and clinical settings.
Analysis of her 2022-2025 publications reveals a dominant focus on pandemic-era mental health innovations: emotion-regulation programs for primary schools, telephone-assisted CBT for childhood anxiety, and digital parenting interventions for disruptive behaviors. Her methodology emphasizes randomized controlled trials, nationwide implementation studies, and longitudinal follow-ups within Finnish populations.
Dr. Ristkari maintains active collaboration with University of Turku colleagues (notably Professor Andre Sourander) and international researchers, contributing to high-impact journals including the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Journal of Medical Internet Research.
