Characteristics of the physical childcare environment are associated with children’s sedentary behavior (SB) and physical activity (PA) levels. This study examines whether these associations are moderated by child characteristics. A total of 152 1- to 3-year-old children from 22 Dutch childcare centers participated in the study. Trained research assistants observed the physical childcare environment, using the Environment and Policy Assessment Observation (EPAO) protocol. Child characteristics (age, gender, temperament and weight status) were assessed using parental questionnaires. Child SB and PA was assessed using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. Linear regression analyses including interaction terms were used to examine moderation of associations between the childcare environment and child SB and PA. Natural elements and portable outdoor equipment were associated with less SB and more PA. In addition, older children, boys and heavier children were less sedentary and more active, while more use of childcare and an anxious temperament were associated with more SB. There were various interactions between environmental factors and child characteristics. Specific physical elements (e.g., natural elements) were especially beneficial for vulnerable children (i.e., anxious, overactive, depressive/withdrawn, overweight). The current study shows the importance of the physical childcare environment in lowering SB and promoting PA in very young children in general, and vulnerable children specifically. Moderation by child characteristics shows the urgency of shaping childcare centers that promote PA in all children, increasing equity in PA promotion in childcare.
In a class or group of twenty children, - statistically - one child has a developmental language disorder (DLD). For children with DLD it is very difficult to keep up at school. The problems in the language also easily lead to miscommunication, which can cause behavioral problems. The timely recognition of a DLD is of great importance for early treatment. This way you can prevent or reduce problems at school, at home and in the children's leisure time. At the moment, children with DLD are not always identified early.Problems in language development can be identified early, for example at the age of two by child health workers. Parents, kindergarten teachers and elementary school teachers can also identify problems in children's language development. This requires a language screening instrument that can easily determine whether a child's language is 'at risk' or 'not at risk'. Early identification of language problems is important, but until today children are still missed. In this dissertation I present a new instrument for the identification of problems in the language development of children from one to six years old, the Early Language Scale (ELS). I also describe the development of the milestones in the language development of children, how good the current screening at the age of two at the health care office is and what parents think of this language screening. The ELS appears to detect DLD in young children well and can therefore make an important contribution to the detection of these problems at the primary health care.
In line with the ‘Natuur- en milieubeleidsplan Caribisch Nederland 2020-2030 (NMBP)’ the consortium intends with this research proposal to contribute to a prosperous society with a resilient population and healthy natural environment. The Caribbean Netherlands are dealing with a situation where imported vegetables and fruits are mostly imported and hardly affordable. This leads to consuming unhealthy food and high obesities rates as a consequence. A lack of good agricultural practices with regard to water-smart and nature inclusive agriculture, as well as limited coping capacities to deal with hazards and climate change, results in very limited local production and interest. Initiatives that focused only on agrotechnological solutions for food resilient futures turned out to be ineffective due to a lack of local ownership, which jeopardizes sustainability. Moreover, the ‘green’ and ‘blue’ domains are not seen as attractive career perspectives among youth, hampering a bright future for those domains. The aim of this research is to contribute to water-smart and nature inclusive food resilience embedded in a local participatory perspective in the Caribbean Netherlands. To address the above challenges, a living lab approach is adopted, where youth will be trained as (co)-facilitators (WP1) who will contribute to a participatory envisioning process and an articulation of food resilient futures (WP2). Finally, based on the envisioning process local stakeholders will select and implement experiments for food resilient futures followed by dissemination of results among key stakeholders as well as children and youth at the BES islands (WP3). This project strategy will lead to a network of a living lab where professionals and youth work together on food resilient futures. Training manuals and the results of experiments with regard to water and food system alternatives will be used actively to encourage youth to be involved in sustainable agriculture and consumption.
communicative participation, language disordersOBJECTIVE(S)/RESEARCH QUESTION(S) Speech and language therapists (SLTs) are the primary care professionals to treat language and communication disorders. Their treatment is informed by a variety of outcome measures. At present, diagnosis, monitoring of progress and evaluation are often based on performance-based and clinician-reported outcomes such as results of standardized speech, language, voice, or communication tests. These tests typically aim to capture how well the person can produce or understand language in a controlled situation, and therefore only provide limited insight in the person’s challenges in life. Performance measures do not incorporate the unobservable feelings such as a patient's effort, social embarrassment, difficulty, or confidence in communication. Nor do they address language and communication difficulties experienced by the person themselves, the impact on daily life or allow patients to set goals related to their own needs and wishes. The aim of our study is give our patients a voice and empower SLTs to incorporate their patient's perspective in planning therapy. We will Aangemaakt door ProjectNet / Generated by ProjectNet: 08-12-2020 12:072Subsidieaanvraag_digitaal / Grant Application_digitaalDossier nummer / Dossier number: 80-86900-98-041DEFINITIEFdevelop a valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measure that provides information on communicative participation of people with communication disorders and integrate this item bank in patient specific goal setting in speech and language therapy. Both the item bank and the goal setting method will be adapted in cocreation with patients to enable access for people with communication difficulties.STUDY DESIGN Mixed methods research design following the MRC guidance for process evaluation of complex interventions, using PROMIS methodology including psychometric evaluation and an iterative user-centered design with qualitative co-creation methods to develop accessible items and the goal setting method.RESEARCH POPULATION Children, adolescents and adults with speech, language, hearing, and voice disorders.OUTCOME MEASURES An online patient-reported outcome measure on communicative participation, the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB), CPIB items that are accessible for people with language understanding difficulties, a communicative-participation person-specific goal setting method developed with speech and language therapists and patients and tested on usability and feasibility in clinical practice, and a course for SLTs explaining the use of the goal-setting method in their clinical reasoning process.RELEVANCE This study answers one of the prioritized questions in the call for SLTs to systematically and reliably incorporate the clients’ perspective in their daily practice to improve the quality of SLT services. At present patient reported outcomes play only a small role in speech and language therapy because 1) measures (PROMS) are often invalid, not implemented and unsuitable for clinical practice and 2) there is a knowledge gap in how to capture and interpret outcomes from persons with language disorders.
De robot assistent is een nieuwe, veelbelovende technologie om docenten te ondersteunen en leerprestaties te verbeteren. Echter, een moreel kader voor een aanvaardbare inzet van zulke robots mist nog.Doel Het doel van dit project is, het creëren van een richtlijn, in samenwerking met stakeholders, voor het toepassen van robots in het basisonderwijs op een moreel verantwoorde manier. Resultaten Het hoofddoel van dit project is het creëren van een richtlijn voor het moreel verantwoord toepassen van sociale robots in het Nederlandse basisonderwijs. Deze richtlijn kan worden gebruikt door alle belangrijke belanghebbenden, zoals leraren, robotbedrijven en schoolbesturen, bij het nemen van beslissingen over het ontwerpen, bouwen en toepassen van sociale robots. Looptijd 01 november 2017 - 01 november 2021 Aanpak Dit project maakt gebruik van de Value Sensitive Design Methodology. Ten eerste voeren we een grootschalig systematisch literatuuronderzoek uit om de relevante morele waarden te identificeren. Daarna houden we focusgroepsessies met belanghebbenden om deze waarden verder te conceptualiseren. Op basis van de focusgroepsessies zullen we een enquête ontwikkelen om kwantitatieve gegevens over de stakeholderperspectieven te verkrijgen. Deze onderzoeken vormen de basis voor de richtlijnen. Extra informatie Stel je voor: een robot die de leerkracht helpt in de klas. Interview met Matthijs Smakman voor De Nationale Wetenschapsagenda (NWA) Relevantie Bijdrage aan de wetenschap Meerdere studies benadrukken de dringende behoefte aan ethische reflectie en richtlijnen voor robotleraren en theoretisch integratie van de tot dusver bekende, gefragmenteerde resultaten. Dit promotieonderzoek beoogt dit te doen door het ontwikkelen van een nieuwe moraaltheorie over de ethische opvattingen die verbonden zijn aan de implementatie van robotleraren, en test de theoretische aannames empirisch. De resultaten zullen worden verspreid op wetenschappelijke conferenties, debatten en in tijdschriftpublicaties. Bijdrage aan de samenleving De angst en implicaties van intelligente robots die banen overnemen, maakt deel uit van een internationaal debat (Brynjolfsson & McAfree, 2016) en zal een grote impact hebben op de taken van docenten. Robotleraren zijn een perfecte kandidaat om te helpen leraren in hun toenemende werkdruk. Er moet echter voorzichtig worden omgegaan met het introduceren van robotleraren in het klas. Dit doctoraatsonderzoek erkent de morele overwegingen en zorgt voor de nodige theoretische basis om een richtlijn te ontwikkelen voor de implementatie van robotleraren op een moreel gepaste manier. De resultaten wordt via websites, videoclips en maatschappelijke debatten aan het publiek getoond. Co-financiering Dit onderzoek is gefinancierd door NWO, Promotiebeurs voor Leraren, projectnumer: 023.00.066 Aanvullende documenten en doorverwijzingen Publicaties Smakman, M.H.J.; Konijn, E.A.; Vogt, P.; Pankowska, P. Attitudes towards Social Robots in Education: Enthusiast, Practical, Troubled, Sceptic, and Mindfully Positive. Robotics 2021, 10, 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/robotics10010024 Smakman, M., Berket, J., Konijn, E. A. (2020, October). The Impact of Social Robots in Education: Moral Considerations of Dutch Educational Policymakers. In 2020 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (pp. 647-652). IEEE. Van Ewijk, G., Smakman, M., & Konijn, E. A. (2020, June). Teacher's perspectives on social robots in education: an exploratory case study. In Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference (pp. 273-280). Konijn, E.A., Smakman, M. & van den Berghe, R. (2020). Use of Robots in Education. In: van den Bulck, J., Sharrer, E., Ewoldsen, D. & Mares, M-L. (Eds). The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. Wiley Publisher Smakman, M., Jansen, B., Leunen, J., & Konijn, E. (2020) Acceptable Social Robots in Education: A Value Sensitive Parent Perspective. In INTED2020 Proceedings (pp 7946-7953). Smakman M., Konijn E.A. (2020) Robot Tutors: Welcome or Ethically Questionable?. In: Merdan M., Lepuschitz W., Koppensteiner G., Balogh R., Obdržálek D. (eds) Robotics in Education. RiE 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1023. Springer, Cham Goudzwaard, M., Smakman, M., & Konijn, E. A. (2019). Robots are Good for Profit: A Business Perspective on Robots in Education. 2019 Joint IEEE 9th International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL- EpiRob), 54–60. https://doi.org/10.1109/DEVLRN.2019.8850726 Video Stel je voor: een robot die de leerkracht helpt in de klas
