Early Life Care: 1st place for the ‘Reflecting Minds’ project at the Franz Kainberger Health Award 2024

"Reflecting Minds," is a specialized mentalization training program offered by the Institute for Early Life Care at the Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) in Salzburg,  designed to enhance the psychological resilience and interpersonal skills of aspiring early childhood educators. Working in kindergartens and daycare centers often exposes educators to high demands and challenging conditions. This training strengthens mentalization—the ability to recognise and interpret inner processes in oneself and others—thereby improving empathy, emotional regulation, and stress resilience. The program includes interactive exercises and guided observations of parent-child interactions, to specifically target the development of these skills. A scientific study is underway to assess its impact, particularly on stress, empathy, and sensitivity in working with children. Developed by the Institute for Early Life Care in collaboration with students and faculty from the Teacher Training Colleges for Early Childhood Education in Bischofshofen (Salzburg) and Vöcklabruck (Upper Austria), the project has already garnered significant recognition.

At the 2024 Franz Kainberger Health Awards, hosted by the AVOS (Working Group for Preventive Medicine), "Reflecting Minds" was awarded first place. The award, named in honor of Dr. Franz Kainberger, celebrates innovative contributions to preventive medicine, health promotion, and improving health literacy. This year marked its inaugural presentation, with the first-place winner receiving a prize of 4,000 euros.

• Profile of the winning project „Reflecting Minds“: Video
• 2024 Franz Kainberger Health Awards ceremony: Video

PMU Rector Prof. Wolfgang Sperl expressed his delight over the award: ‘Congratulations to Dr Beate Priewasser and Dr Antonia Dinzinger and their entire team. With its fundamental and application-based research projects, our Institute for Early Life Care does enormously valuable work for the early life phase of children and their environment, as the winning project Reflecting Minds impressively demonstrates.’

More Information: 

• Project „Reflecting Minds“: reflecting-minds.pmu.ac.at.
• Franz Kainberger Health Awards: www.gesundessalzburg.at/avos/gesundheitspreis/

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In image (from left to right): Dr. Paul Kainberger; AVOS President Dr. Holger Förster; PMU Rector Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sperl; Selina Ismair, MSc; Carmen Wusatiuk, BSc, BA; Franziska Stärkel, BSc;  Dr. Antonia Dinzinger; Dr. Beate Priewasser – all from the Institute for Early Life Care; Regional Minister Mag. Daniela Gutschi; Mag. Angelika Bukovski, MIM, MBA; Mag. Stefan Huber – Managing Directors of AVOS // Image credit: AVOS/Bukovics.