Kirsi Peltonen
PhD
INVEST kirsi.peltonen@utu.fi Office: 498 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/orcid.org/0000-0002-5112-3823 |
child mental health; intervention effectiveness; RCT; immigrants; psychological trauma
Professor of Psychology at INVEST Research Flagship Centre, University of Turku.
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.
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.
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.
- Self-Help Plus for refugee mothers in Rhino Refugee Settlement, Uganda (SEED): study protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial assessing intergenerational effects on preschool-aged children (2026)
- Trials
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Supporting refugee children's mental health and learning in educational and healthcare services (2026) Beyond the Nordic Welfare State : Extending Social Investments with Interventions Peltonen, Kirsi; Huolman, Mia; Hannula, Sanna
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Adverse childhood experiences and emotion dynamics in daily life: a two sample study* (2025)
- Cognition and Emotion
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Clients' experiences of psychotherapeutic interventions addressing trauma (2025)
- Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - 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
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Effectiveness and treatment moderators of parenting interventions in Finnish perinatal primary care (2025)
- Infant Mental Health Journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Latent Profile Analysis of Mental Health Among Children and Young Adults With Refugee Backgrounds (2025)
- JAACAP Open
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Patterns of mental health problems and resilience among immigrant and refugee adolescents: a latent profile analysis (2025)
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Psychosocial school-based intervention among adolescents with migrant and native backgrounds: Effectiveness and experiences (2025)
- Applied Developmental Science
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Returning home from a full-scale armed conflict: A rapid review of short post-deployment psychological practices (2025)
- Military Psychology
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal )



