Tom van Yperen

The Effects of Adolescent Health-Related Behavior on Academic Performance A Systematic Review of the Longitudinal Evidence

Schools are increasingly involved in efforts to promote health and healthy behavior among their adolescent students, but are healthier students better learners? This synthesis of the empirical, longitudinal literature investigated the effects of the most predominant health-related behaviors—namely, alcohol and marijuana use, smoking, nutrition, physical activity, sexual intercourse, bullying, and screen time use (television, Internet, video games)—on the academic performance of adolescents. Thirty studies dating back to 1992 were retrieved from the medical, psychological, educational, and social science literature. Healthy nutrition and team sports participation were found to have a positive effect on academic performance, whereas the effects of alcohol use, smoking, early sexual intercourse, bullying, and certain screen time behaviors were overall negative. Generally, all relations of health-related behaviors and academic performance were dependent on contextual factors and were often mediated by psychosocial problems, social structures, and demographics. Findings were interpreted with use of sociological theories.

Deciding on child maltreatment : A literature review on methods that improve decision-making

Assessment and decision-making in child maltreatment cases is difficult. Practitioners face many uncertainties and obstacles during their assessment and decision-making process. Research exhibits shortcomings in this decision-making process. The purpose of this literature review is to identify and discuss methods to overcome these shortcomings. We conducted a systematic review of the published literature on decision-making using PsychINFO and MEDLINE from 2000 through May 2014. We included reviews and quantitative research studies that investigated methods aimed at improving professional decision-making on child abuse and neglect in child welfare and child protection. Although many researchers have published articles on decision-making including ideas and theories to improve professional decision-making, empirical research on these improvements is scarce. Available studies have shown promising results. Structured decision-making has created a greater child-centred and holistic approach that takes the childs family and environment into account, which has made practitioners work more systematically and improved the analysis of complex situations. However, this approach has not improved inter-rater agreement on decisions made. Shared decision-making may improve the participation of parents and children and the quality of decisions by taking client treatment preferences into account in addition to scientific evidence and clinical experience. A number of interesting developments appear in recent research literature; however, child welfare and child protection must find additional inspiration from other areas, e.g., mental health services, because research on decision-making processes in child welfare and child protection is still rare.

Bidirectional longitudinal associations of perpetration and victimization of peer bullying with psychosocial problems in adolescents: A cross-lagged panel study

Research on school bullying often focuses on the directional path of bullying and/or victimization leading to psychosocial problems, while such one-dimensional views have been shown to be too simplistic. Furthermore, recent research has shown that patterns of bullying at school differ for boys and girls, which makes gender a particularly relevant factor in exploring the causes and consequences of bullying. Therefore, the present study explored the bidirectional, longitudinal associations of bullying and bullying victimization on several psychosocial problems via a longitudinal cross-lagged panel study in 1243 adolescents in the Netherlands, while taking into account potential gender differences. Data were collected in September 2011 and 2012. Results showed that both bullied boys as well as girls reported more conduct problems at follow-up. Both boy and girl bullies reported less pro-social behavior and more peer problems at follow-up, but boys also reported more conduct problems at follow-up, while girls did not. Furthermore, in girls, emotional problems were associated with more victimization at follow-up, while inattention-hyperactivity problems and less pro-social behavior were related to increased chances of being a perpetrator of bully at follow-up. Conversely, in boys, baseline inattention-hyperactivity problems were not associated with being a bully later on, but rather with increased chances of being a bullying victim at later times. These results can help to tailor future anti-bullying interventions at schools.

A Controlled Health Promoting School Study in the Netherlands Effects After 1 and 2 Years of Intervention

Purpose. Many unhealthy behavioral habits often originate in adolescence. In the literature, the school-based whole school approach is stated be the most promising way to promote healthy behavior. Herein, interventions are evidence based and integrated into the curriculum, while embedded in complementary healthy school policies and environment. This study evaluates the effects of such an intervention on Dutch high schools. Methods. Two Dutch high schools and two controls were followed to evaluate the intervention’s effects on health behaviors, body mass index, and psychosocial problems after 1 year (N = 969) and 2 years (N = 605). Outcomes were measured via self-report surveys and analyzed with mixed methods regression analyses. To complement information on intervention effects, structured interviews were held with a representative sample of teachers per intervention school to map their respective whole school approach implementation success. Results. After 2 years, one intervention school showed significant improvements: Body mass index and excessive screen time use were reduced. In the other intervention school, priority targets did not improve. These findings reflected their respective success in intervention implementation, for example, differences in intervention integration and tailoring. Conclusions. This study shows that it is feasible for schools to implement a comprehensive Health Promoting School intervention themselves and that, when successful, effects in terms of improving behaviors and health outcomes are promising. The process evaluation helped understand these findings in context.

Support Systems for Treatment Integrity

Objective: This systematic review evaluates the content of effective support provided to practitioners of evidence-based interventions in order to establish and maintain treatment integrity. Method: Four articles covering six outcome studies are included in this review, these studies (1) adequately operationalized treatment integrity procedures and (2) showed sufficient effects of the support on levels of treatment integrity. Results: The results show that an effective support system consists of a minimum combination of training and ongoing support (supervision, consultation, and coaching), preferably extended with booster sessions. Conclusions: The review provides specific information on effective content of this support which practitioners and intervention developers can use in order to establish and maintain treatment integrity of their planned interventions.

Antisociaal gedrag en jeugddelinquentie: valt er wat te keren?

SamenvattingVoor de verdere ontwikkeling van jeugdzorginterventies bij jeugdigen met antisociaal of crimineel gedrag is een betere registratie nodig, zodat duidelijker wordt welke van deze jeugdigen jeugdzorg nodig hebben. Ook is een integratie van theoretische noties van belang, een helderder onderscheid tussen mediërende factoren en de beoogde uitkomst, en een gedifferentieerde uitkomstmaat. Daarnaast is onderscheid nodig tussen de algemeen en specifiek werkzame factoren die de effectiviteit van de interventies bepalen. Ook voor nazorgvormen geldt dat duidelijk moet zijn wat de vermeende werkzame factoren en wat de werkelijke resultaten zijn. Meer in het algemeen moet het in de jeugdzorg gebruikelijker worden om effectonderzoek te doen, zowel gecontroleerde studies als minder gecontroleerd praktijkonderzoek.

Het meten van cliënttevredenheid in de jeugdzorg

SamenvattingRamos, C., Stams, G. J., Stoel, R., Faas, M., Van Yperen, T. A., & Dekovic, M. (2006). Measuring client satisfaction in youth care, Kind en Adolescent, 27 (3), 157-168.This study focuses on the assessment of client satisfaction in youth care through the C-test questionnaire. This examines factorial validity and reliability of client satisfaction and determines the degree to which this can be explained by characteristics of youth care facilities and of the client. The sample consisted of 177 clients from 27 youth care facility units. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we found four reliable factors (professionalism, contact and attitude, goal attainment, and information and progress) loading on a higher order single factor indicating general satisfaction. High correlations among the four factors indicated that the C-test dimensions lack specificity. Multilevel analysis revealed that 13% of the variance in client satisfaction about professionalism was accounted for by characteristics of youth care facilities. Parents were less satisfied about the professionalism of care workers when the treatment was delivered by residential youth care facilities for adolescents.SamenvattingDit onderzoek richt zich op het meten van cliënttevredenheid in de jeugdzorg met behulp van de c-toets. De eerste doelstelling was het vaststellen van de factoriële validiteit en betrouwbaarheid van deze vragenlijst. De tweede was nagaan in hoeverre cliënttevredenheid toe te schrijven is aan kenmerken van de instelling en kenmerken van de cliënt. De steekproef betrof 177 cliënten verdeeld over 27 behandelunits. Met een confirmatieve factoranalyse werd een vierfactor-oplossing gevonden met de factoren professionaliteit, contact en bejegening, doel en resultaat, informatie en voortgang, en daarnaast een hogere orde factor algemene tevredenheid. De factoren hadden een hoge betrouwbaarheid, maar waren onderling hoog gecorreleerd, wat betekent dat de subdimensies weinig specifiek zijn. Met multilevel analyse is gevonden dat 13% van de verschillen in tevredenheid over professionaliteit van hulpverleners toegeschreven kon worden aan instellingskenmerken. Ouders waren minder tevreden over de professionaliteit van hulpverleners wanneer er sprake was van residentiële hulpverlening aan jongvolwassenen.

Participatory evaluation of psychosocial interventions for children: A pilot study in Northern Uganda

In the past decade, evidence-based practice has led to a more critical approach towards professional practice in the humanitarian working field. Many agencies have increased their capacity and resources to research intervention effectiveness and programme impact. When evaluating psychosocial interventions, practitioners and researchers are often not only interested in intervention outcomes, but also in the external factors that influence effectiveness, the intervention process and the views of its beneficiaries. This requires a practice-driven approach that takes into account the (cultural) reality in the field, collects relevant process information and provides a framework to reflect the views of the participants. This paper explains how War Child Holland developed a participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tool to evaluate I DEAL, its psychosocial life-skills intervention. The aim of the tool was to research intervention effectiveness by collecting process information with children as the key informants. The participatory M&E tool comprises a range of qualitative and quantitative measures, such as setting personal goals, themed quizzes, module evaluations and impact mapping. The tool was piloted with 510 children and 120 parents in Northern Uganda. It was found that the M&E tool has potential to strengthen ‘evidence-based’ evaluative practice and to involve children in meaningful evaluation, but it was found to be difficult to gather more data for impact evaluation without further quantifying and expanding the tool.

Jeugdzorg kan nog veel leren over implementeren

SamenvattingEen mooi omschreven interventie die uiteindelijk niet meer van de boekenplank komt. Een praktisch protocol dat alleen de binnenkant van een bureaulade te zien krijgt. Herkenbaar? Waarschijnlijk wel. Want ondanks de groeiende aandacht voor effectieve interventies in de jeugdzorg verloopt de invoering in de praktijk vaak moeizaam. Een goed gepland implementatieproces vergroot de kans op succes.

Praktijkontwikkeling, onderzoek en beleid

SamenvattingDe literatuur laat zien dat jeugdzorg helpt, maar dat er ook nog veel verbetering mogelijk is. Onderzoek en Ontwikkeling (O&O) is een betrekkelijk nieuw vakgebied in de pedagogiek dat zich bezighoudt met de methoden en strategieën ter verbetering van de professionele hulp- en dienstverlening. Centraal in dit artikel staat de vraag langs welke wegen de jeugdzorg effectiever is te maken. In kort bestek wordt een overzicht geboden van wat in dit verband bekend is over de bruikbaarheid van methoden en strategieën van praktijkontwikkeling. Daarnaast gaat de aandacht uit naar de rol die onderzoek en beleid in dit verband zou moeten spelen.