Simona Di Folco
Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology

Contact details
- Email: simona.difolco@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
School of Health in Social Science, Clinical Psychology, The University of Edinburgh
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
I am a clinical developmental psychologist with an active research interest in child development, health, and education. I am active in the area of the importance of social relations, especially attachment relationships, for learning and health. I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Health in Social Science, at the University of Edinburgh, in the area of Clinical Psychology.
In 2007 I received a BSc in Science and Psychological Techniques for clinical assessment and counselling at Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy. During the internship at the Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, I developed a deep interest in methodology and assessment of parent-child attachment relationships, thus I decided to attend short courses at the Anna Freud Center to gain skills for the assessment of attachment in infancy and middle childhood.
I then applied for the MSc program in Clinical and Dynamic Psychology for Children, Adolescents, and Families, and two years later, in 2009 I graduated. During these two years, I had the opportunity to learn skills of developmental psychopathology and clinical assessment with families and children and to join ongoing research about how attachment to parents may contribute to the perception of well-being and illness in school-aged children. My thesis was based on this study and was then recognized as the best contribution to a prize in memory of the Italian psychiatrist Sante de Sanctis.
After the registration exam as a chartered psychologist in 2010, I applied for the Ph.D. in Dynamic, Clinical, and Developmental Psychology at Sapienza University in Rome and was awarded a fully funded scholarship.
Before the Ph.D. viva, I joined Lund University, first as a visiting scholar and then as a Research Assistant, working in the Department of Psychology and within the area of Developmental Psychology.
I obtained my Ph.D. in 2014, working on a project about the contribution of parental attachment to children’s development of emotional competence and self-perception in middle childhood.
During the Ph.D. program, I had the opportunity to be trained in the administration and coding of widely known methods to assess parent-child attachment relationships in the lifespan: the Strange Situation Procedure, The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task, the Story Stem Assessment Profile, the Child Attachment Interview, the Adult Attachment Interview, and the Reaction to Diagnosis Interview.
In 2014 I joined the University of Cagliari (Italy) as a Postdoctoral Fellow to work on a longitudinal project about the prevention of maternal post-partum depression in first-time expectant parents.
During my research experience, I have worked with children in clinical and nonclinical samples (late adopted children and children suffering from idiopathic epilepsy) and with different age groups: from early infancy to middle childhood and adolescence and with parents and couples in transition to parenthood (both biological and adoptive parenthood) and those coping with the elaboration of the diagnosis of having a child affected by a medical problem, as epilepsy.
In addition to the research background, I trained as a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with a particular interest and focus on working with children and young people who experienced trauma and/or who live in care settings.
Qualifications
Ph.D. Dynamic, Clinical, and Developmental Psychology, Excellent with honors
Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza, University of Rome Rome (Italy), 2014/06/26
Recipient of a Full Funded Scholarship (1st November 2010-31st October 2013) in Dynamic Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, “Sapienza”, University of Rome
MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE in Dynamic and Clinical Psychology for Infancy, Adolescence, and Family, magna cum laude
Faculty of Psychology, Sapienza, University of Rome, Rome (Italy), 2009/07/02
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE in Science and Psychological Techniques for clinical assessment and counseling, magna cum laude
Faculty of Psychology 1, Sapienza, University of Rome Rome (Italy), 2007/02/28
VISITING Ph.D. Developmental Psychology, Lund University, Department of Psychology Lund, Sweden, 5th September 2013-31st December 2013
Supervisor: Professor Elia Psouni, Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology and Psychobiology.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING COURSES
- Brazelton Newborn Behavioral Observation, Brazelton Centre UK, 20th and 21st of July 2021.
- Administration and coding training for the Reaction to Diagnosis Interview (RDI), held by Prof. Robert Marvin, Pre-conference, 6th International Attachment Conference IAC, Pavia, 27th -29th August 2013.
- Administration and coding training for the Conflict in the Interparental System Coding Scale (Cummings et al., 2006), held by Kathleen Patricia McCoy, Ph.D. at the University of Rome “Sapienza”.
- Administration and coding training for the Secure Base Script Test (Psouni, Apetroaia, 2009), held at the University of Lund, Sweden, by Professor Elia Psouni, 20th -21st March 2012.
- Administration and coding training for the Strange Situation, held by Professor Judith Solomon at the Anna Freud Centre, London (UK),12th -21st July 2010.
- Administration and coding training for the Attachment Interview (Main, Goldwyn, 1985), held by Professor Nino Dazzi and Professor Deborah Jacobvitz at the L. U. M. S. A. University, Rome,9th -20th June 2009.
- Administration and coding training for the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task MCAST (Green et al., 2000), held by Professor Jonathan Green at the University of Manchester, UK, 14th -16th April 2009.
- Administration and coding training for the Story Stem Assessment Profile (SSAP) (Hodges, Hillman, Steele, 2007), held by Jill Hodges at the Anna Freud Centre, London, UK, October 2007- March 2008.
- Administration and coding training for the Child Attachment Interview (CAI) (Shmueli-Goetz, Target, Fonagy, Datta, 2004), held by Yael-Shmueli Goetz at the Anna Freud Centre, London, UK,28th November- 1st December 2005.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Associate Member of the AIP (Italian Association of Psychology) since 2011, Division of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology.
- Professional Membership as Chartered Psychologist, Ordine degli Psicologi del Lazio (Italy) since the 1st of March 2010 to present (Registration Number 17537).
- MBACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy 392068)
Responsibilities & affiliations
Since May 16th, 2018 Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK for supporting teaching and learning.
Postgraduate teaching
Tutor- Trauma and Resilience in a Developmental Context, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019
Tutor- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Children and Young People - Supervised Practice, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019
Research activities
- Midlothian Science Festival 2021 to
- ESRC Festival of Social Science 2018
- Festival of Creative Learning- Mindful Art:Being who you want to be.
- Introduction to Academic Practice to
- ESRC Festival of Social Science
- ESRC Festival of Social Science to
- Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School 2017 to
- Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School 2017 to
Current project grants
2016- What does ‘terrorism’ mean to young people? A qualitative art project. University of Edinburgh, Innovation Initiative Grant, Autumn 2016. PI: Simona Di Folco, Co-PI: Karen Cooper. Fundings awarded: £3.404,80.
Past project grants
• Travel GRANT, Italian Association of Psychology (AIP) to attend the WAIMH (Edinburgh 2014). Euros 2.000,00.
• Three years funded PhD fellowship (1st November 2010-31st October 2013) in Dynamic Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, “Sapienza”, University of Rome.
-
Family dynamics in kinship care
(11 pages)
In:
Child & Family Social Work, vol. 27, pp. 635-645
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12912
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Barriers and facilitators to engaging mothers and fathers in family-based interventions: A qualitative systematic review
In:
Child psychiatry and human development
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01389-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The School Attachment Monitor - a novel computational tool for assessment of attachment in middle childhood
(16 pages)
In:
PLoS ONE, vol. 16
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240277
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Socioeconomic deprivation and social capital in kinship carers using a helpline service
(11 pages)
In:
Child & Family Social Work, vol. 25, pp. 845-855
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12763
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A comparison of attachment representations to father and mother using the MCAST
(10 pages)
In:
Scandinavian journal of psychology, vol. 61, pp. 243-252
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12611
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Patterns of homotypic and heterotypic continuity between ADHD Symptoms, externalising and internalising problems from age 7 to 15
(14 pages)
In:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, vol. 48, pp. 223–236
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-019-00592-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Il Coffy Test: Test proiettivo per l'età scolare
(160 pages)
Research output: › Book (Published) -
Late-adopted children grown up: A long-term longitudinal study on attachment patterns of adolescent adoptees and their adoptive mothers
(18 pages)
In:
Attachment and Human Development, vol. 21, pp. 372-388
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2019.1571519
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Automating the administration and analysis of psychiatric tests: The case of attachment in school age children
(12 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300825
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Conference contribution (Published) -
Resilience and resilience factors in children in residential care: A systematic review
In:
Children and youth services review, vol. 89, pp. 83-92
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.04.010
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Effectiveness of art therapy with paediatric populations affected by medical health conditions: A systematic review
In:
Arts and Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, vol. 11, pp. 183-201
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2018.1443952
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Late-adoptions in adolescence: Can attachment and emotion regulation influence behaviour problems? A controlled study using a moderation approach
In:
Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, pp. 1-13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2158
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Late adoptions: Attachment security and emotional availability in mother-child and father-child dyads
In:
Journal of Child and Family Studies, pp. 1-12
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0732-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
What does "terrorism" mean to young people? A qualitative art project
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
La reazione materna alla diagnosi di epilessia del bambino: Due esperienze a confronto
In:
Psicologia Clinica dello Sviluppo, vol. XX, pp. 183-191
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Depressione materna e paterna: Fattori di rischio e di protezione nella genitorialità
In:
Maltrattamento e Abuso all’Infanzia, pp. 105-132
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3280/MAL2017-001007
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Difficulties in emotion regulation Scale-16 (DERS-16): An exploratory study
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
Parental Reaction To The Diagnosis of Childhood Epilepsy
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Published) -
Attachment to mother and father at transition to middle childhood
(13 pages)
In:
Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 26, pp. 721-733
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0602-7
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Sintonie e dissintonie nei legami precoci: traiettorie di valutazione e considerazioni cliniche nei contesti ad alto rischio per lo sviluppo infantile: Attunement and dis-attunement in early interactions: directions for the assessment and clinical implications in high-risk settings for infant development.
(93 pages)
In:
Maltrattamento e Abuso all’Infanzia, vol. 18, pp. 71
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3280/MAL2016-002005
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
- "Continuità vs. discontinuità dell'attaccamento nella transizione alla seconda infanzia: uno studio longitudinale" (Continuity vs. discontinuity of attachment in transition to middle childhood: a longitudinal study) first ex aequo prize funded by the Trust Saulo Sirigatti for studies and research in psychology for the best contribution presented at the XVI National Congress of the Italian Association of Psychology (AIP), Division of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Pisa, Italy, September 19th-21st, 2014. Euros 500,00.
- Winner of the VII edition of the scientific award in Psychology and Psychiatry “Sante de Sanctis”2010, for the Division “dissertations”, “Opera Sante de Sanctis Onlus”, 2nd October 2010, Parrano (Tr), Italy. Euros 1,000.
2016-Volunteer Research Assistant, HarmonyChoir Project, University of Edinburgh, PI: Liesbeth Tip.
Choir and Stigma- Investigating how singing in a choir could reduce mental health stigma. Project funded by the Innovation Initiative Grant, Autumn 2015.