Joana Carvalho

Joana Carvalho is an assistant professor (with Habilitation) of Psychology, director of the Sexual Behavior and Health Lab (SexBeHealth) at the University of Aveiro, and an integrated researcher at the William James Center for Research. Carvalho develops research in the field of human sexuality, ranging from topics related to male and female sexual (dys)function and sexual violence (with a focus on sexual crimes) to sexual compulsivity and the promotion of sexuality education and sexual rights, being an expert member of the National Health in Schools Program task force – Sexuality Education, Rights and Inclusion (ESDI) – from the Directorate-General of Health, Ministry of Health, in Portugal. Carvalho addresses her research topics with quantitative and qualitative methodologies and is particularly interested in laboratory sexuality research, targeting the understanding of attentional and emotional processes underpinning human sexual response. In terms of applied research, Carvalho is working on a series of intervention projects, including a CBT randomized clinical trial (RCT) for individuals with a sexual interest in children (PREVENT IT), a CBT-Mindfulness RCT for men with prostate cancer (E-mergir), a CBT-Mindfulness RCT for individuals with sexual dysfunction (FULLSENSE), three sexual violence prevention CBT-Bystander programs (CARE, SUN, MOON; for pre-school, school and college students, respectively), and one psychoeducational program aimed at preventing sexual and gender-based violence prompted by AI-generated sexual contents (AmIaware?). Carvalho has been credited in clinical psychology, forensic psychology, and sexology by the Portuguese Board of Psychologists. She is the president of the Portuguese Society of Clinical Sexology.