RESEARCH PILLAR II
What Works for Whom in Parent and Peer Interventions
Studying intervention effectiveness is crucial to tailor support, allocate resources wisely, avoid harm, and maximize positive impact.
RESEARCH
Ongoing Studies
Here you find all of our ongoing studies. With each project, there is a short general description and an overview of (some of the) main publications.
Resilience and social skills interventions
Principal Investigator: Minne Fekkes & Brechtje de Mooij
During the last decade, there has been an increase in mental problems among youth. Strengthening the resilience of young people has been proposed as one of the solutions to tackle these increasing numbers. With a variety of scientific methods like microtrials and meta-analyses, Minne and Brechtje and colleagues have been working to detect those elements that can help children in strengthening their social skills and resilience. Currently, a large RCT is underway to examine a high school program that helps students deal with stress. See here for a meta-analysis of effective components of social skills training programs and a tipsheet from ZonMW.
UvA collaborators: Geertjan Overbeek, Bram Orobio de Castro, Julia Offermans, Alithe van den Akker
Effective elements of parenting programs
Principal Investigator: Patty Leijten
Parenting programs are the recommended strategy for the prevention of children’s mental health problems. In this line of research, Patty identifies what the core elements of scalable parenting programs should be to effectively reduce children’s mental health problems worldwide. The goal of Patty’s work is to refine theories on the role of parenting in the development of children’s mental health problems and to optimize the effects and scalability of programs to reduce children’s mental health problems across the globe.
UvA collaborators: Annabeth Groenman, Merlin Nieterau, Karen Rienks, Geertjan Overbeek
The most effective parenting program content for disruptive child behavior: A network meta-analysis
Journal of Child Psychology and PsychiatryResearch strategies to discern active psychological therapy components: A scoping review
Clinical Psychological Science Jeugd in OntwikkelingWhat works for whom in ADHD interventions for youth
Principal Investigator: Annabeth Groenman
Behavioral parenting programs are the recommended treatment for children with ADHD and disruptive behaviors. While we know behavioral parenting programs are effective for ADHD, effect sizes are small to moderate, leaving room for improvement. Annabeth’s research focuses on several methods to improve the effectiveness of parenting programs for ADHD. She leads the PAINT-IPDMA, which is suitable to detect for whom parenting interventions work. Also, she combines the power of aggregated data meta-analyses with IPDMA to investigate which elements of parenting interventions are more effective for whom. Lastly, Annabeth aims to determine which mechanisms are underlying change in parenting programs for ADHD.
UvA collaborators: Geertjan Overbeek, Patty Leijten, Tycho Dekkers, Marie Deserno, Angelique Boering
Why treatment is the best choice for childhood mental disorders – a commentary on Roest et al
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Journal of Child and Adolescent PsychopharmacologyFamily Check-up in the Netherlands
Principal Investigator: Brechtje de Mooij & Loes van Rijn-van Gelderen
We know that parenting interventions are more helpful for some parents than others. One of the factors that might relate to the lack of effectiveness of parenting interventions, is that some parents simply do not receive the help they need. The Family Check-Up (FCU) is a promising intervention in solving this problem in The Netherlands. Research from mostly the US has shown that the FCU improves parenting practices and children’s and adolescents’ psychosocial behavior. Beyond studying FCU effects on parenting and child outcomes, Brechtje and Loes aim to unravel the mechanisms of change induced by the FCU.
UvA collaborators: Geertjan Overbeek, Hannelies de Jonge
What works for whom in volunteer-based parenting support
Principal Investigator: Anne Bijlsma
Home visiting programs are broadly used to support families and to prevent family dysfunctioning. Effects of these programs are, however, limited in magnitude and the utility of home visiting has not yet been clearly demonstrated. Identifying effective components of volunteer-based parenting support may support practitioners in providing tailored and thereby hopefully more effective—care aimed at enhancing positive parenting behavior. In this research project, Anne aims to identify effective components in the Home-Start program using a mixed-methods design.
UvA collaborators: Geertjan Overbeek, Janneke Blokland, Leonieke Boendermaker
Youth-initiated mentoring for juvenile delinquents
Principal Investigator: Angelique Boering
The societal costs associated with juvenile delinquency and reoffending are high. Early prevention strategies are crucial to prevent more persistent and violent patterns of delinquent behaviour. In youth-initiated mentoring (YIM), professionals support youth to self select a non-parental adult from their social network as their mentor. In her studies, Angelique examines whether YIM effectively strengthens resilience and reduces the need for formal support and self-reported delinquency in juvenile offenders. Also, Angelique examines how and for whom YIM works, and how implementing YIM can be facilitated. This study is conducted in close collaboration with Halt.
UvA collaborators: Annabeth Groenman, Levi van Dam, Geertjan Overbeek
Anti-bullying program (element) effects
Principal Investigator: Minne Fekkes & Maud Hensums
Minne conducts research on bullying and anti-bullying program effects. Together with others, Minne developed and tested the anti-bullying program ‘Prima’. Minne also studies how implementation of Prima and other anti-bullying programs can be improved. A Dutch video impression on Prima can be found here.
In addition, because we still lack insight into for whom anti-bullying interventions work, Maud — together with Minne and other UvA colleagues — is working on an international IPD meta-analysis of RCTs as well as a series of innovative mictrotrials. These studies help to uncover effective intervention components to decrease bullying in various subgroups of adolescents.