Carolina Guzman Holst

I am a postdoctoral researcher working in the Foulkes Lab and TOPIC group. My research interests broadly include understanding individual differences in how young people respond to school-based mental health interventions. This includes investigating how and for whom mental health interventions work or don't work, who is most at risk, and what factors might predict these outcomes.

I use different methods in my work including systematic reviews/meta-analysis, longitudinal analysis using SEM and mixed models, and data-driven approaches such as general trajectory modelling (LCGA, GGMM) and group-based trajectory modelling (GBTM). Data-driven approaches may illustrate how different groups of individuals respond to an intervention over time, and how different socio-ecological factors may predict which trajectory course these individual groups follow during an intervention. Overall, this knowledge could suggest ways to tailor universal interventions based on young people's different profiles and thereby improve intervention acceptability, engagement and efficacy.

Previously, I worked on projects that investigated the impact of early-life adversity, such as experiencing childhood bullying, on mental health, and the impact of school-based anti-bullying interventions on young people's mental health.

I completed my DPhil (PhD) at Oxford in 2023 working with Prof. Lucy Bowes and Prof. Cathy Creswell, where I investigated the relationship between childhood bullying and mental health, examining risk and protective factors and the role of anti-bullying interventions. My DPhil work formed part of the Changing lives Project, funded by the Calleva Foundation. Prior to my DPhil, I graduated with a Master of Science in Psychological Research from Oxford (2019) and a Bachelor of Science from Brown University (2016).