Society Collaborations

Pediatric Reports (ISSN 2036-7503) is an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, open access journal on all aspects of pediatrics. The subsection of Pediatric Psychology, promoted by the Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (SIPPed), will focus on research that highlights and explores the psychological processes involved in pediatrics. These processes are analyzed and interpreted in all their developmental complexity; the clinical method is used to intervene in developmental impairments of children and adolescents by focusing on resources and preventing the risk of a possible developmental blackout.

The consideration and intervention of psychology in the field of pediatrics—mainly concerning mothers and childcare, whether in a hospital or not—is extremely longstanding. The conceptual field of pediatric psychology started to emerge when, in the 1960s, Jerome Kagan promoted strong interaction and cooperation with pediatrics, thereby responding to the needs of pediatricians who found themselves confronted with psychodevelopmental and behavioral problems in many children. This field was formalized in 1968 with the establishment of the Society of Pediatric Psychology, a society which was then to become a subdivision of the Division of Clinical Psychology (APA) and later gain scientific autonomy in the 54th division of the APA (2001). In the years to follow, pediatric psychology also expanded in Europe through the European Pediatric Psychology Network (EPPN).

In Italy, the knowhow and the expertise of pediatric psychology have been greatly developed since the year 2000, within some groups of research and intervention of the University of Palermo, of the University of Padova and among the Operative Unit of Pediatric psychology of the “Bambin Gesù” Hospital in Rome.

In 2016, the Italian Society of Pediatric Psychology (SIPPed) was established, following the APA 54th division and concentrating on some specific issues, such as in the maternal area, where pediatric psychology becomes a perspective of intervention to protect the baby’s health.

The main goal of the Section of Pediatric Psychology is to highlight, disseminate, and promote studies in this field, publishing original clinical and experimental research.