• Minne Fekkes & Brechtje de Mooij, Geertjan Overbeek, Bram Orobio de Castro, Annaleena Holopainen.

In het afgelopen decennium is het aantal mentale problemen onder jongeren toegenomen. Het versterken van de veerkracht van jongeren wordt gezien als een mogelijke oplossing voor deze stijgende cijfers. Met behulp van uiteenlopende wetenschappelijke methoden, zoals microtrials en meta-analyses, werken Minne, Brechtje en collega’s aan het opsporen van elementen die kinderen kunnen helpen bij het versterken van hun sociale vaardigheden en veerkracht. Op dit moment loopt er een grootschalige RCT waarin een schoolprogramma wordt onderzocht dat scholieren helpt om beter met stress om te gaan. Voor meer informatie kun je de meta-analyse raadplegen over effectieve onderdelen van sociale vaardigheidstrainingen en een tipsheet van ZonMW.

• Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen & Brechtje de Mooij 

Opvoedondersteuningsprogramma’s kunnen op effectieve wijze de mentale gezondheid van zowel ouders als kinderen ondersteunen. Binnen deze onderzoekslijn brengen medewerkers en studenten van Preventieve Jeugdhulp en Opvoeding de kernelementen in kaart van opschaalbare opvoedprogramma’s die bijdragen aan het verminderen van mentale gezondheidsproblemen bij kinderen wereldwijd. Dit werk verfijnt theorieën over de rol van opvoeding in de ontwikkeling van mentale gezondheidsproblemen bij kinderen en optimaliseert de effectiviteit en opschaalbaarheid van programma’s ten behoeve van gezinnen over de hele wereld.

• Promovendus: Maud Hensums
• Promotor: Geertjan Overbeek, Eddie Brummelman, Helle Larsen

Self-regulation failures such as aggression typically emerge or worsen around the transition to adolescence. These self-regulation failures come at great cost for individuals, communities, and society at large.

We propose that self-regulation can be improved by addressing something that youth care deeply about: the social norms within their peer group. Here, we will conduct a randomized-controlled trial and follow-up experiments to investigate how changing social norms affects self-regulation and so creates effective behavior change and improved health in youths.
Moreover, we will examine how changes in individual youths cascade into healthier peer networks (e.g., more feelings of safety, less conflicts and bullying, and fewer signs of physical ill-health).

• Promovendus: Karen Rienks
• Promotors: Patty Leijten, Elske Salemink

The potential of parent-focused interventions for child anxiety has been suggested in both prevention and treatment, but much remains unknown about their actual merit. The current project will investigate optimal combinations of parent-intervention components to reduce children’s anxiety. Parent interventions are often studied as a ‘package’, consisting of multiple components. Knowledge on which components are associated with better effects is crucial to understand why some interventions are more effective. Additionally, it will test the hypothesis that families benefit more from therapy components targeting risk factors that, for them personally, are more relevant, malleable, and acceptable. Findings on the effectiveness of specific intervention components can guide intervention development, and contribute to our understanding of the role of parents in children’s anxiety.

This study is part of the NWO VIDI project ‘Risk Factors for Mental Health Problems as (un)Suitable Intervention Targets’, awarded to Patty Leijten.

• Promovendus: Merlin Nieterau
• Promotors: Patty Leijten, Geertjan Overbeek

The goal of this PhD project is to acquire a more in-depth understanding of the underlying networks of symptoms, risk and protective factors in individual families dealing with disruptive child behavior. In this project we will gain insight into daily feelings, thoughts, and behavior of parents who struggle with their child’s (3-8 years old) disruptive behavior. Analyzing such intensive longitudinal data provides new insights about within and between family differences. Results may contribute to the development of evidence based personalized family support.

This study is part of the NWO VIDI project ‘Risk Factors for Mental Health Problems as (un)Suitable Intervention Targets’ awarded to dr. Patty Leijten.

• Promovendus: Suzanne de Ruig
• Promotors: Chris Kuiper, Floor de Rooij, Marion van Hattum

Dit onderzoek is een participatief ontwerpgericht onderzoek rondom de JIM-aanpak. JIM staat voor Jouw Ingebrachte Mentor en is een familielid, vriend of bekende van de jongere. De keuze van een jongere voor een JIM wordt ondersteund door ouder(s), waarna JIM optreedt als ambassadeur van de jongere. De JIM is de vertrouwenspersoon voor de jongere. In die rol treedt hij/zij op als vertegenwoordiger richting de ouder(s) en professionals. Iedere jongere kiest zijn eigen JIM. Iemand die hij al kent en vertrouwt of waar hij heen gaat als het thuis even niet lekker loopt. 

Tijdens het onderzoek wordt een leernetwerk gevormd door professionals van het InVerbindingsTeam (regio Rijk van Nijmegen), team Ede van entrea lindenhout, Rubixzorg (Nijmegen) en een team van Pactum (VIGO, Doetinchem). In dit leernetwerk verkennen we de werkcontext per team en bespreken we de uitkomst van de 40 interviews over de last, wat de literatuurstudie opgeleverd heeft, wat er al bekend is over de pijlers van circulaire zorg in
binnen- en buitenland. Daarna ontwikkelen en evalueren we samen een ontwerp waar professionals, gezinnen en JIMs iets aan hebben.

Meer informatie over de JIM-aanpak is op hun website te vinden: https://jimwerkt.nl/.

• Promovendus: Jolien Grolleman
• Promotors: Chris Kuiper, Carolien Gravesteijn, Jesse Roest

The birth of a child can cause a decline in spousal relationship satisfaction. Dissatisfaction in the spousal relationship can negatively affect parental functioning and child development, hence the need among municipalities and professionals for effective methods to strengthen the spousal relationship during the transition to parenthood. Therefore, this PhD research increases knowledge about the interrelations among (changes in) relationship satisfaction, parental functioning and the child development during the transition to parenthood and the following four years, and investigates the effectiveness of a preventive intervention.

This study is part of an NWO PhD scholarship for teachers.

• Promotor: Angelique Boering
• Promotors: Geertjan Overbeek, Annabeth Groenman

Each year Halt meets 16.000 first offenders, which gives them the unique position to identify youths (and families) in vulnerable circumstances and to offer the necessary support before major problems arise. With a tailored Halt-intervention, Halt aims to prevent youths from making the same mistakes by giving them insight in and the chance to repair these mistakes. In addition to that, youths can now nominate a non-parental, adult mentor from their own social network, also referred to as a Youth Initiated Mentor (YIM). Based on the idea “it takes a village to raise a child”, the YIM forms a pedagogical coalition with parents and functions as a representative and confidant for the adolescent. This research focuses on whether the addition of a YIM to the Halt-intervention contributes to (1) the protective factors and future/development of an adolescent and (2) preventing recidivism. This study will compare youths following the Halt-intervention to youths following the Halt-intervention with a YIM. The study will consist of a pre-, post- and follow-up measurement 6 months after the intervention.

This project is part of and subsidized by the ZonMw Program 'What works for youth?'.

• Promovendus: Sanne Agterberg
• Promotors: Henny Bos, Ruben Fukkink, Floor van Rooij, Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen

Recently, it became possible for man-man couples in the Netherlands to get a baby with the help of a surrogate and in some cases a gamete-donor. As it is likely more parents will chose this route, it is important to have good counseling guidelines to help them developing as well as possible. Unfortunately, there is no empirical evidence for such guidelines.

We aim to investigate wellbeing, development, counseling and support needs of prospective parents, surrogates, gamete donors, and children born through surrogacy in a longitudinal study starting before conception. This will be done by conducting interviews, having parents, surrogates and gamete-donors filling in questionnaires, and gathering observational data from children born by surrogacy. Besides that, retrospective needs of gay fathers using surrogacy outside of the Netherlands will also be studied to give insight in long-term demands. Societal perspectives on surrogacy will be studied to gain insight in reactions families created this way might face. Evaluation of this data will lead to counseling guidelines for intended parents and surrogates entering the process of surrogacy.

The study  was rewarded with NWO funding.