• Researcher/contact Dr. Hanneke Creemers

This project aims to contribute to improved assessment of risks, needs and learning abilities of juvenile offenders, to ultimately improve their referral to tailored treatment to prevent re-offending. To this end, we develop and test a virtual reality (VR) assessment including neurobiological measurements. As opposed to self-report questionnaires and interviews that measure what an individual indicates to feel and do, which is prone to social desirability bias, VR assessments have the potential to measure actual feelings, thoughts and reactions of juveniles when exposed to situations that may evoke antisocial behavior. Accompanying neurobiological measurements may enable the identification of biological factors underlying antisocial behavior, which may further guide diagnostics and treatment.

The assessment developed within this project includes a baseline neurobiological measurement to assess basal functioning of the autonomic nervous system and exposure to different situations in VR during which behavioral reactions are observed and neurobiological reactivity is assessed, in addition to youth’s reflections on their thoughts, feelings and behavior in the various situations. The assessment takes approximately 30-40 minutes and is administered by a trained professional. To study the applicability and validity of the assessment, youth report their experiences with the assessment and complete a self-report questionnaire including validated instruments to assess antecedents of delinquent behavior and socially desirable responding.

A first pilot study of the assessment, conducted in a juvenile detention center between August and October 2020, is finished. Most youth (74% of 29 youth, mean age 17.5) were positive about the assessment. They found the situations in VR to be quite to very realistic and indicated to have reacted as they would do in real life. Preliminary findings suggest that VR and self-report assessments provide different views on behavior, and are differentially associated with social desirability. A second study focusing on implementation of the assessment in residential as well as non-residential care for juvenile offenders is expected to take place in 2021-2022.

• Period 2020-2022
• Funding  NWA Idea Generator project; NWA.1228.191.494.

• Promovendus: Jeanne Gubbels
• Promotors: Geert-Jan Stams, Claudia van der Put, Mark Assink, P. Prinzie

Child abuse is a major problem with serious consequences for individual victims and society. Prevalence rates seem to indicate that efforts made to reduce child abuse haven’t led to a substantial reduction of the annual numbers of child abuse. Moreover, overview studies show that interventions are only effective to a limited extent in preventing child abuse. The current project is therefore aimed at increasing the effectiveness of (early) intervention. This project builds on the findings of a primarily study which was carried out in phase 1 of the ‘Consortium Early preventive interventions’. Within this primarily study the knowledge about the effectiveness of intervening was examined .

The current project is aimed at improving the identification of (the risks of) child abuse by schools, general practitioners, mental healthcare and consultation centers by conducting qualitative research. Furthermore, the long term effects of interventions that are used in the Netherlands to prevent child abuse are being investigated. In addition, a meta-analysis will be conducted about the specific effective elements of different types of interventions used to prevent child abuse.

This project is part of the ZonMW program ‘Consortium Vroeg preventieve interventies - Fase 2’. More information can be found here.

• Promovendus: Agnes de Lima-Heijns

The present study investigates the risk, preventive, promotive, and protective factors underlying the developmental pathways towards resilience or delinquency among Curaçaoan youth. Bronfenbrenners Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model  (1979) is used to describe the developmental pathways towards resilience and delinquency in the general population of Curaçaoan youth. The General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning (GPCSL) model of criminal conduct (Andrews & Bonta, 1995) is integrated in the PPCT-model in order to better explain the onset and persistence of juvenile delinquency and maintenance of resilient behavior.

Using a mixed method design combining multi-source, self-report and interviews, respondents are annually followed during 4 years starting from the last grade of primary school into the higher grades of secondary school.

The study  was rewarded with NWO funding in 2016 and is currently finishing T3.