• Prof. Geertjan Overbeek

Different children deal differently with all the stimuli that come to them on a daily basis. But we still know little about why some children are more or less sensitive to these stimuli from their environment. We are investigating how biological influences (such as the functioning of genes and hormones) and parenting play a role in this. We also want to know what kind of parenting support works best for parents and children to prevent defiant and oppositional behavior.

• Period 2018-2023
• Funding Vici grant from NWO

• Dr. Brechtje de Mooij

The aim of this research project is to assess the effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU; Dishion, 1990) in the Netherlands. The FCU is a family management intervention that is distinctive from other parenting interventions due to its brief character (i.e., only three sessions) and family-centered approach. Previous randomized controlled trial studies conducted in the Unites States and Sweden have shown positive effects for the FCU in a range of age-groups (e.g., Shaw et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2014). Besides intervention effects, this project will attend to the influence of urbanicity factors on intervention effects. Urban influences such as high population density, sensory overload, lack of green-space or environmental pollution—globally referred to as urban stress—may influence mental health (see Krabbendam et al. 2020 for an overview of current knowledge). Therefore, to gain a better understanding of what works for whom, this study will assess the influence of urbanicity on the effects of the FCU.

The current research project aims to examine the evidence for the effectiveness for the FCU in the Netherlands. To do so, multiple studies into the effects of the FCU will be conducted.

1. A meta-analysis will be conducted to assess the effects of the FCU found in previous international studies.
2. The pilot-study by Scheffers-van Schayck and colleagues (under embargo) will be expanded to include a control group. This will allow us to compare the effects of the FCU to a no-treatment control group.
3. We will also assess the effects of the FCU in the Dutch context using a longitudinal four-wave RCT-design. This study will be the first randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of FCU in the Netherlands. A secondary aim of this study is to assess intervention response trajectories of families that participated in the FCU.
4. A final study of this research project will assess how and when the FCU changes parenting and parent/child behavior constructs.

For this line of study, we will use ecological momentary assessments (EMA) to gain insights into the process of change that is induced by the FCU. This study will also collect qualitative data to contextualize quantitative findings, and will specifically focus on low-SES families.

• Period: March 2020 - March 2023
• Funding: UvA Research Priority Area Urban Mental Health

Since 2020, it is in the Netherlands possible for man-man couples to get a baby with the help of a surrogate and an egg donor, resulting in the first birth of a child on 5 August 2021. Likely, Dutch gay and transgender people and man-woman couples will more often use this procedure to become parents. It is, therefore, essential that counseling procedures are available to allow the children (and others involved) to develop as well as possible. Unfortunately, evidence-based guidelines for counseling are lacking. In this project, we collect the necessary knowledge to create counseling guidelines and training subsequently.

About the project

• PI of the consortium: Professor H.M.W. (Henny) Bos - Universiteit van Amsterdam
• Consortium: Universiteit van Amsterdam, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC - Locatie VUmc, Amsterdam UMC - Locatie AMC, Maastricht University, Universiteit Utrecht, Transgender Netwerk Nederland (TNN), Nij Geertgen, Stichting Zwanger voor een ander, Stichting Dutch Rainbow Family Professionals, Stichting Meer dan Gewenst.
• The project is financed within the National Research Agenda Research on Routes by Consortia (NWA-ORC) program. The allocated amount is 1.1 million euros, and the project's duration is eight years.
• For more information and an interview with the PI (in Dutch).

Background

Home visiting programs are broadly used to support families and to prevent family dysfunctioning. Research on the evaluation of home visiting programs has shown some promising effects for parents and children. Effects are, however, limited in magnitude and utility of home visiting has not yet been clearly demonstrated. Identifying effective components of home visiting programs may support practitioners in providing tailored - and thereby hopefully more effective - care aimed at enhancing positive parenting behavior. In this research project, we aim to identify effective components in the Home-Start program. Home-Start is a voluntary organization in which volunteers offer regular support, friendship and practical help to young families in their own homes helping to prevent family crisis or breakdown.

Aims and methods

• Identifying effective components of Home-Start by consulting program users and providers;
  • Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with parents and children from Home-Start families, and volunteers working at the Home-Start program. In the interviews, we ask questions about family needs, and we ask the participants to identify effective components/characteristics of the Home-Start program based on their experience.

• Developing and implementing a ‘reflection instrument for effective components in family support’;
  • The results of the interviews will be used to develop a reflection instrument that will be implemented in coaching sessions of Home-Start volunteers for evaluative support.

• Examining how program components contribute to the effectiveness of the Home-Start program on enhancing positive parenting behavior.
  • Using a case-control study design, we aim to examine ‘what works in Home-Start’. A number of outcome measures will be measured in questionnaires: parental wellbeing, parenting behavior, and parental perception of child behavioral problems.
  • Second, the aim is to include a small group of Home-Start families in an experience sampling study, which is also referred to as the ‘daily diary method’. In this way, we can gain insight into the feelings, thoughts, and behavior of individual caregivers in daily life.

In brief

• Period: January 2022-January 2025
• Funding: ZonMw (744130104)
• Researchers: 

• Promovendus: Maud Hensums
• Promotors: 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

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: Rosanne Sluiter
• Promotors: Ruben Fukkink, Minne Fekkes

Studies from both the diathesis-stress paradigm and the differential susceptibility paradigm have shown that children’s temperament and the pedagogical quality of early childhood education an care (ECEC) shape children’s experiences in childcare and their socio-emotional development. Specifically, a reactive temperament is related to less favorable socio-emotional outcomes in early childhood, as reported by caregiver and teachers, particularly in ECEC with relatively low quality.  

This project involves a longitudinal study into temperament-by-quality and high sensitivity-by-quality interaction effects with children from both center-based care and family daycare. We also conduct a multi-level meta-analysis of the longitudinal relation between childcare quality and children’s socio-emotional development, including moderators at child level. 

The study  was rewarded with ZonMW funding and runs from 2017-2021.

• Promovendus: Angelique Boering
• Promotors: Geertjan Overbeek, Levi van Dam, 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?'.

• Promovendi: Sanne Agterberg, Laila Wiersma
• Promotors: 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.