The Ola Study – Studying Mental Health in Young People

Building resilience and resources to reduce mental distress in young people in Latin America

OLA is a study of mental health in young people. It will help us to find out which characteristics, resources and activities help young people to prevent and recover from mental distress, particularly depression and anxiety.

We are working with young people living in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bogotá (Colombia) and Lima (Peru) aged 15-16 years and 20-24 years.

This research programme started in November 2019 and will last 5 years, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) in the UK. OLA is a collaboration with researchers from Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Peru), University College London, King’s College London (UK) and coordinated by Queen Mary University of London (UK).

We are also working in partnership with local arts organisation in Latin America with a series of arts-based research activities running throughout the OLA programme. We are working with Fundacíon Crear Vale la Pena (Buenos Aires), Fundacíon Nacional Batuta, Fundacíon Artística y Social La Família Ayara (Bogotá) and Teatro La Plaza (Lima).