If parents perceive the neighborhood as child friendly, they will allow their children more independent travel and play. Parental perception of child friendliness is therefore an important prerequisite for designing neighborhoods that promote children's health and wellbeing. However, there is currently no comprehensive and practical instrument to measure it. This study develops and empirically validates a measurement instrument for parental perception of child friendliness in neighborhoods. Survey data was collected from 309 parents in the Netherlands. The data was randomly divided into a calibration (n = 155) and a validation sample (n = 154). The factorial validity of parental perception of child friendliness in neighborhoods was examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The construct validity was tested by using structural equation modelling (SEM) of assumed relationships between parental perception of child friendliness in neighborhoods and variables influencing this perception (antecedents) and children's physical activity (consequence). Overall, the results provided good reliability and validity for the instrument. This instrument does not only offer a practical tool; it also provides practical guidelines for designing child-friendly neighborhoods as perceived by parents. It suggests that measures, such as providing green spaces, care facilities and recreation facilities, can enhance child friendliness of neighborhoods as perceived by parents.
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Infants attend daycare at an early age, which raises questions about children's sensitivity to the childcare environment and the role of different temperamental traits in their development in the early years. In a two-year longitudinal study with parent- and caregiver-reported data for Dutch children at the age of 1 and 2 years (120 children from 92 groups), we explored fine-grained dimensions of negative affect and their relationship with socio-emotional functioning. Especially shyness, frustration and soothability proved robust predictors of socio-emotional development across parent- and caregiver-reported data with both concurrent (Year-1) and predictive associations (Year-2). Also, the quality of caregiver–child interactions moderated caregiver-reported child wellbeing and competence. Infants that are open to social contacts, are easy to comfort and have low levels of frustration, and have higher levels of wellbeing and less problem behaviour in early daycare than peers with higher levels of shyness and frustration and relatively low levels of soothability.
Parental involvement is a crucial force in children’s development, learning and success at school and in life [1]. Participation, defined by the World Health Organization as ‘a person’s involvement in life situations’ [2] for children means involvement in everyday activities, such as recreational, leisure, school and household activities [3]. Several authors use the term social participation emphasising the importance of engagement in social situations [4, 5]. Children’s participation in daily life is vital for healthy development, social and physical competencies, social-emotional well-being, sense of meaning and purpose in life [6]. Through participation in different social contexts, children gather the knowledge and skills needed to interact, play, work, and live with other people [4, 7, 8]. Unfortunately, research shows that children with a physical disability are at risk of lower participation in everyday activities [9]; they participate less frequently in almost all activities compared with children without physical disabilities [10, 11], have fewer friends and often feel socially isolated [12-14]. Parents, in particular, positively influence the participation of their children with a physical disability at school, at home and in the community [15]. They undertake many actions to improve their child’s participation in daily life [15, 16]. However, little information is available about what parents of children with a physical disability do to enable their child’s participation, what they come across and what kind of needs they have. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate parents’ actions, challenges, and needs while enhancing the participation of their school-aged child with a physical disability. In order to achieve this aim, two steps have been made. In the first step, the literature has been examined to explore the topic of this thesis (actions, challenges and needs) and to clarify definitions for the concepts of participation and social participation. Second, for the purposes of giving breadth and depth of understanding of the topic of this thesis a mixed methods approach using three different empirical research methods [17-19], was applied to gather information from parents regarding their actions, challenges and needs.
Psychosocial problems related to social isolation are a growing issue for wellbeing and health and have become a significant societal problem. This is especially relevant for children and adults with chronic illnesses and disabilities, and those spending extended periods in hospitals or permanently living in assisted living facilities. A lack of social relationships, social connectivity, and the inability to travel freely leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Loneliness interventions often use mediated environments to improve the feeling of connectedness. It has been proven that the utilization of haptic technologies enhances realism and the sense of presence in both virtual environments and telepresence in physical places by allowing the user to experience interaction through the sense of touch. However, the technology application is mostly limited to the experiences of serious games in professional environments and for-entertainment-gaming. This project aims to explore how haptic technologies can support the storytelling of semi-scripted experiences in VR to improve participants’ sense of presence and, therefore, the feeling of connectedness. By designing and prototyping the experience, the project aims to obtain insights and offer a better understanding of designing haptic-technology-supported storytelling and its potential to improve connectedness and become a useful tool in isolation interventions. The project will be conducted through the process of participants’ co-creation.
