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Peer2Peer Student Support Program

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Supporting Adolescents with Mental Health Problems in Secondary Education: Feasibility of a Supported Education Intervention

Mental health problems in adolescence can have a profound influence on school functioning, educational attainment and thus future societal participation. Supported education (SEd) is a potentially useful method for educational professionals to help adolescents with mental health problems in secondary school improve their functioning by stimulating collaboration, ownership, and participation. In this study, we examined the feasibility of SEd in secondary education by examining its acceptability, implementation, and preliminary effectiveness. We performed a mixed-methods study using quantitative data (questionnaires) and qualitative data (interviews) from educational professionals (EP) and adolescents, aged 13–17, about their experiences with a SEd intervention. Regarding the acceptability of the intervention, three main themes emerged: (a) structure, (b) autonomy, and (c) applicability of the intervention. Themes regarding the implementation were: (a) lack of time, (b) personal attitude, (c) mastery, and (d) complexity of the school environment. The findings show that, for those that followed the intervention, SEd is a promising approach to support adolescents with mental health problems to improve their functioning and participation in school. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of the intervention.This article belongs to the Special Issue Children and Young People’s Participation in Health and Well-Being.

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Peer2Peer Student Support Program

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Projects 11

project

Community Participation through Education

Effectiveness of Supported Education for students with mental health problems, an experimental study.The onset of mental health problems generally occurs between the ages of 16 and 23 – the years in which young people follow postsecondary education, which is a major channel in ourso ciety to prepare for a career and enhance life goals. Several studies have shown that students with mental health problems have a higher chance of early school leaving. Supported Education services have been developed to support students with mental health to remain at school. The current project aims to study the effect of an individually tailored Supported Education intervention on educational and mental health outcomes of students with mental health problems at a university of applied sciences and a community college. To that end, a mixed methods design will be used. This design combines quantitative research (Randomized Controlled Trial) with qualitative research (focus groups, monitoring, interviews). 100 students recruited from the two educational institutes will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or control group.

Finished

project

Desiging an empathic chatbot for supporting victims of sexual assault

-Chatbots are being used at an increasing rate, for instance, for simple Q&A conversations, flight reservations, online shopping and news aggregation. However, users expect to be served as effective and reliable as they were with human-based systems and are unforgiving once the system fails to understand them, engage them or show them human empathy. This problem is more prominent when the technology is used in domains such as health care, where empathy and the ability to give emotional support are most essential during interaction with the person. Empathy, however, is a unique human skill, and conversational agents such as chatbots cannot yet express empathy in nuanced ways to account for its complex nature and quality. This project focuses on designing emotionally supportive conversational agents within the mental health domain. We take a user-centered co-creation approach to focus on the mental health problems of sexual assault victims. This group is chosen specifically, because of the high rate of the sexual assault incidents and its lifetime destructive effects on the victim and the fact that although early intervention and treatment is necessary to prevent future mental health problems, these incidents largely go unreported due to the stigma attached to sexual assault. On the other hand, research shows that people feel more comfortable talking to chatbots about intimate topics since they feel no fear of judgment. We think an emotionally supportive and empathic chatbot specifically designed to encourage self-disclosure among sexual assault victims could help those who remain silent in fear of negative evaluation and empower them to process their experience better and take the necessary steps towards treatment early on.

Finished

project

FIT TO PERFORM: Onderzoek naar de fysieke en mentale gezondheid van dansers

Ballet en moderne dans zijn een vorm van topsport. De druk op dansers is enorm. Lange en intensieve werkdagen, veel reizen en verschillende werkplekken maken het lastig om lichaam en geest goed te verzorgen. Hierdoor liggen blessures en mentale klachten op de loer. Nederlandse dansgezelschappen willen meer aandacht gaan besteden aan preventieve maatregelen om fysieke en mentale problemen bij hun dansers te voorkomen. Het ontbreekt hen echter aan kennis en kunde om dit innovatieve vraagstuk op te kunnen pakken. Het Nationale Ballet en het Scapino Ballet hebben het lectoraat Performing Arts Medicine van Codarts (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Rotterdam) benaderd om antwoord te krijgen op de vraag hoe dansers op de hoogste podia, op gezonde wijze, hun beste performance kunnen laten zien. Gezamenlijk is deze praktijkvraag omgevormd naar drie onderzoeksdoelstellingen: 1. Opstellen van meetinstrumenten om de fysieke en mentale gezondheid van dansers te screenen en te monitoren; 2. Ontwerpen van een web-based systeem dat automatisch en real-time informatie uit de ontwikkelde meetinstrumenten kan inlezen, analyseren en interpreteren; 3. Ontwikkelen van een Fit to Perform protocol dat aanbevelingen geeft ten aanzien van het verbeteren van de fysieke en mentale gesteldheid van de danser. Het consortium bestaat uit de volgende organisaties: - Praktijkgerichte onderzoeksinstellingen: Codarts Rotterdam en Hogeschool van Amsterdam; - Universiteiten: ErasmusMC, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven en Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; - Praktijkinstellingen: Het Nationale Ballet en het Scapino Ballet; - Overige instellingen: het Nederlands Paramedisch Instituut (NPi) en het Nationale Centrum Performing Arts (NCPA). Bij de samenstelling van het consortium is gekozen voor een goede mix tussen praktijkorganisaties, onderzoeksinstituten en onderwijsinstellingen. Daarnaast is er sprake van cross-sectorale samenwerking doordat kennis vanuit de podiumkunsten, sport, gezondheidszorg, onderwijs en technologie met elkaar verbonden wordt.

Finished

project

Greengage

Nature areas in North-West Europe (NWE) face an increasing number of visitors (intensified by COVID-19) resulting in an increased pressure on nature, negative environmental impacts, higher management costs, and nuisance for local residents and visitors. The high share of car use exaggerates these impacts, including peak pressures. Furthermore, the almost exclusive access by car excludes disadvantaged people, specifically those without access to a car. At the same time, the urbanised character of NWE, its dense public transport network, well-developed tourism & recreation sector, and presence of shared mobility providers offers ample opportunities for more sustainable tourism. Thus, MONA will stimulate sustainable tourism in and around nature areas in NWE which benefits nature, the environment, visitors, and the local economy. MONA will do so by encouraging a modal shift through facilitating sustainableThe pan-European Innovation Action, funded under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, aims to promote innovative governance processes ,and help public authorities in shaping their climate mitigation and adaptation policies. To achieve this aim, the GREENGAGE project will leverage citizens’ participation and equip them with innovative digital solutions that will transform citizen’s engagement and cities’ effectiveness in delivering the European Green Deal objectives for carbon neutral cities.Focusing on mobility, air quality and healthy living, citizens will be inspired to observe and co-create their cities by sensing their urban environments. The aim to complement, validate, and enrich information in authoritative data held by the public administrations and public agencies. This will be facilitated by engaging with citizens to co-create green initiatives and to develop Citizen Observatories. In GREENGAGE, Citizen Observatories will be a place where pilot cities will co-examine environmental issues integrating novel bottom-up process with top-down perspectives. This will provide the basis to co-create and co-design innovative solutions to monitor environmental problems at ground level with the help of citizens.With two interrelated project dimensions, the project aims to enhance intelligence applied to city decision-making processes and governance by engaging with citizen observations integrated with Copernicus, GEOSS, in-situ, and socio-economic intelligence, and by delivering innovative governance models based on novel toolboxes of decision-making methodologies and technologies. The envisioned citizens observatory campaigns will be deployed and fully demonstrated in 5 pilot engagements in selected European cities and regions including: Bristol (the United Kingdom), Copenhagen (Denmark), Turano / Gerace (Italy) and the region of Noord Brabant (the Netherlands). These innovation pilots aim to highlight the need for smart city governance by promoting citizen engagement, co-creation, gathering new data which will complement existing datasets and evidence-based decision and policymaking.

Ongoing

project

Immersive Sustainable Food Experience Design

Our world is changing rapidly as a result of societal and technological developments that create new opportunities and challenges. Extended Realities (XR) could provide solutions for the problems the world is facing. In this project we apply these novel solutions in food and hospitality. It aims to tackle fundamental questions on how to stimulate a healthy and vital society that is based on a sustainable and innovative economy. This project aims to answer the question: How can Extended Reality (XR) technologies be integrated in the design of immersive food experiences to stimulate sustainable consumption behavior? A multidisciplinary approach, that has demonstrated its strength in the creative industry, will be applied in the hospitality and food sector. The project investigates implications and design considerations for immersion through XR technology that can stimulate sustainable consumption behavior. Based on XR prototypes, physiological data will be collected using biometric measuring devices in combination with self-reports. The effect of stimuli on sustainable consumption behavior during the immersive experience will be tested to introduce XR implementations that can motivate long-term behavioral change in food consumption. The results of the project contribute towards developing innovations in the hospitality sector that can tackle global societal challenges by exploiting the impact of new technology and understanding of consumer behavior to promote a healthy lifestyle and economy. Next to academic publications and conference contributions, the project will develop a handbook for hospitality professionals. It will outline steps and design criteria for the implementation of XR technologies to create immersive experiences that can stimulate sustainable consumption behavior. The knowledge generated in the project will contribute to the development of the curriculum at the Academy for Hotel and Facility at Breda University of Applied Sciences by introducing a technology-driven experience design approach for the course Sustainable Strategic Business Design.

Finished

project

Nature's Voice: Embracing Ecosystems Thinking

There's a growing recognition that the mainstream economic system contributes to environmental degradation and climate change. This jeopardizes human prosperity and poses existential risks for all life forms. Not waiting for global politics to solve the problems, Regenerative Placemakers show that we can organize ourselves differently. They engage with realigning human systems to work within planetary boundaries as a well-being economy. However, they face challenges, such as incorporating non-human voices and embracing the complexity of co-creation. Our transdisciplinary, exploratory research project aims to incorporate a lifecentric worldview in the collective transformation process when investigating: What tools, methods, and approaches the Stewards of Place could use to embody the ecosystems thinking and be able to integrate the needs and perspectives of nature in a process of decision-making, such that it is understandable and fitting for different types of contexts? Our research focuses on fostering a post-anthropocentric outlook, where human identity merges with broader ecosystems. Through the development of methodologies, we seek pathways to coexist harmoniously within diverse natural habitats, prioritizing ecosystem health. This perspective fundamentally shifts worldviews, placing ecosystem well-being at the forefront. Our goal is to cultivate an integrated approach to living that acknowledges and respects the interconnectedness of all life forms. Consortium Partners: Practice Partners are Regenerative Placemakers, referred to as Stewards of Place: Impact033's, IMPACT024's, and Oosterhout SDG's Local. Together with WEAllNL, they are optimizing conditions for innovative, regenerative leadership in the "Plekathon” pilot project, which will serve as a Living Lab for this participatory research. Changemaker: Stichting Wellbeing Economy Alliance Nederland (WEAllNL)- Bas Poppel leading development of a learning community of practice. Knowledge Partners: Avans’ Economy in Common Research Group: Lector Dr. Godelieve Spaas and researcher Ewelina Schraven, Miranda van Gendt (Plekmakers_), Luea Ritter (World Ethic Forum), and Nature as an Advisor, Inspiration, and Stakeholder.

Ongoing

project

Ph.D.-project 'Examining in-class activities to facilitate academic achievement in higher education: a framework for optimal indoor environmental conditions'

Examining in-class activities to facilitate academic achievement in higher educationThere is an increasing interest in how to create an effective and comfortable indoor environment for lecturers and students in higher education. To achieve evidence-based improvements in the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of higher education learning environments, this research aimed to gain new knowledge for creating optimal indoor environmental conditions that best facilitate in-class activities, i.e. teaching and learning, and foster academic achievement. The academic performance of lecturers and students is subdivided into short-term academic performance, for example, during a lecture and long-term academic performance, during an academic course or year, for example. First, a systematic literature review was conducted to reveal the effect of indoor environmental quality in classrooms in higher education on the quality of teaching, the quality of learning, and students’ academic achievement. With the information gathered on the applied methods during the literature review, a systematic approach was developed and validated to capture the effect of the IEQ on the main outcomes. This approach enables research that aims to examine the effect of all four IEQ parameters, indoor air quality, thermal conditions, lighting conditions, and acoustic conditions on students’ perceptions, responses, and short-term academic performance in the context of higher education classrooms. Next, a field experiment was conducted, applying the validated systematic approach, to explore the effect of multiple indoor environmental parameters on students and their short-term academic performance in higher education. Finally, a qualitative case study gathered lecturers’ and students’ perceptions related to the IEQ. Furthermore, how these users interact with the environment to maintain an acceptable IEQ was studied.During the systematic literature review, multiple scientific databases were searched to identify relevant scientific evidence. After the screening process, 21 publications were included. The collected evidence showed that IEQ can contribute positively to students’ academic achievement. However, it can also affect the performance of students negatively, even if the IEQ meets current standards for classrooms’ IEQ conditions. Not one optimal IEQ was identified after studying the evidence. Indoor environmental conditions in which students perform at their best differ and are task depended, indicating that classrooms should facilitate multiple indoor environmental conditions. Furthermore, the evidence provides practical information for improving the design of experimental studies, helps researchers in identifying relevant parameters, and lists methods to examine the influence of the IEQ on users.The measurement methods deduced from the included studies of the literature review, were used for the development of a systematic approach measuring classroom IEQ and students’ perceived IEQ, internal responses, and short-term academic performance. This approach allowed studying the effect of multiple IEQ parameters simultaneously and was tested in a pilot study during a regular academic course. The perceptions, internal responses, and short-term academic performance of participating students were measured. The results show associations between natural variations of the IEQ and students’ perceptions. These perceptions were associated with their physiological and cognitive responses. Furthermore, students’ perceived cognitive responses were associated with their short-term academic performance. These observed associations confirm the construct validity of the composed systematic approach. This systematic approach was then applied in a field experiment, to explore the effect of multiple indoor environmental parameters on students and their short-term academic performance in higher education. A field study, with a between-groups experimental design, was conducted during a regular academic course in 2020-2021 to analyze the effect of different acoustic, lighting, and indoor air quality (IAQ) conditions. First, the reverberation time was manipulated to 0.4 s in the intervention condition (control condition 0.6 s). Second, the horizontal illuminance level was raised from 500 to 750 lx in the intervention condition (control condition 500 lx). These conditions correspond with quality class A (intervention condition) and B (control condition), specified in Dutch IEQ guidelines for school buildings (2015). Third, the IAQ, which was ~1100 ppm carbon dioxide (CO2), as a proxy for IAQ, was improved to CO2 concentrations under 800 ppm, meeting quality class A in both conditions. Students’ perceptions were measured during seven campaigns with a questionnaire; their actual cognitive and short-term academic performances were evaluated with validated tests and an academic test, composed by the lecturer, as a subject-matter-expert on the taught topic, covered subjects discussed during the lecture. From 201 students 527 responses were collected and analyzed. A reduced RT in combination with raised HI improved students’ perceptions of the lighting environment, internal responses, and quality of learning. However, this experimental condition negatively influenced students’ ability to solve problems, while students' content-related test scores were not influenced. This shows that although quality class A conditions for RT and HI improved students’ perceptions, it did not influence their short-term academic performance. Furthermore, the benefits of reduced RT in combination with raised HI were not observed in improved IAQ conditions. Whether the sequential order of the experimental conditions is relevant in inducing these effects and/or whether improving two parameters is already beneficial, is unknownFinally, a qualitative case study explored lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of the IEQ of classrooms, which are suitable to give tutorials with a maximum capacity of about 30 students. Furthermore, how lecturers and students interact with this indoor environment to maintain an acceptable IEQ was examined. Eleven lecturers of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (UAS), located in the northern part of the Netherlands, and twenty-four of its students participated in three focus group discussions. The findings show that lecturers and students experience poor thermal, lighting, acoustic, and IAQ conditions which may influence teaching and learning performance. Furthermore, maintaining acceptable thermal and IAQ conditions was difficult for lecturers as opening windows or doors caused noise disturbances. In uncomfortable conditions, lecturers may decide to pause earlier or shorten a lecture. When students experienced discomfort, it may affect their ability to concentrate, their emotional status, and their quality of learning. Acceptable air and thermal conditions in classrooms will mitigate the need to open windows and doors. This allows lecturers to keep doors and windows closed, combining better classroom conditions with neither noise disturbances nor related distractions. Designers and engineers should take these end users’ perceptions into account, often monitored by facility management (FM), during the renovation or construction of university buildings to achieve optimal IEQ conditions in higher education classrooms.The results of these four studies indicate that there is not a one-size fits all indoor environmental quality to facilitate optimal in-class activities. Classrooms’ thermal environment should be effectively controlled with the option of a local (manual) intervention. Classrooms’ lighting conditions should also be adjustable, both in light color and light intensity. This enables lecturers to adjust the indoor environment to facilitate in-class activities optimally. Lecturers must be informed by the building operator, for example, professionals of the Facility Department, how to change classrooms’ IEQ settings. And this may differ per classroom because each building, in which the classroom is located, is operated differently apart from the classroom location in the building, exposure to the environment, and its use. The knowledge that has come available from this study, shows that optimal indoor environmental conditions can positively influence lecturers’ and students’ comfort, health, emotional balance, and performance. These outcomes have the capacity to contribute to an improved school climate and thus academic achievement.

Finished

project

Smartcase - Sustainable Michael Addition Resin Technology for Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers

Thermoset materials find use in almost all industrial sectors, especially where lightweight, stiffness, resistance and dimensional stability are key performance requirements. However, traditional thermosets suffer from several drawbacks: they are made of fossil-based non-reversible polymers and toxic monomers; more importantly, thermosetting materials are virtually neither recyclable nor reprocessable, due to their crosslinked microstructure. Currently, most thermoset materials are incinerated or accumulated in landfills at the end of their life. Landfill waste degrades to liquids known as landfill leachates that lead to health and environmental problems. A significant part of these wastes originate from thermoset materials used in paints, coatings, sealants and adhesives applied as a thin film to all sorts of surfaces. These unrecyclable materials contribute to nano- and microplastic formation. Despite many efforts in the past years in this context, substantial further developments are required. Production of thermosets from biobased feedstocks using safe and sustainable-by-design approaches is therefore crucial to address the well-being of people and to have a healthy planet.SMARTCASE aims to develop safe and circular carbohydrate-derived reactive polyester resins for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers for application in the building and interior sectors. The new two-component (‘2K’) formulations are designed to replace currently used fossil-based epoxy and urethane resins by biobased and GHS-label-friendly alternatives. This not only improves the safety of workers and end-users of these materials, but also reduces the dependency on fossil resources and facilitates the transition towards abundantly available biobased raw materials.A new class of biobased polyesters resins and thermosets will be designed in SMARTCASE using safe and sustainable by design approaches allowing for more sustainable and feasible end-of-life options. Biobased polyesters in general meet the requirements of circularity, as they can be efficiently recycled back to their monomers at end-of-life. Accordingly, the recycling and degradation behavior of the developed formulations under thermal, mechanical and chemical conditions and their biodegradation will be studied. Hence, the output of the project contributes to the main goals of the NGF BioBased Circular program.The project follows a value-cycle approach with a multi-disciplinary and balanced consortium of industrial representatives from every part of the value chain, from carbohydrate feedstock suppliers to resin formulators and end users. This enables a system innovation instead of a (single) product innovation. The following results are expected within 10 years (mostly by the end of the project ): - Sustainable feedstock platform for novel biobased (BB) platform chemicals- Access to novel monomers and building blocks- Access to safe and novel polyester-based resin components- Access to high performance, safe and circular thermoset formulations- Scale-up of the best thermoset formulations- Validated performance of novel thermoset formulations in industrial applications- Sustainable and circular-by-design thermoset formulations with defined end-of-life solutions - Data on LCA, TEA, toxicity and sustainability- Engaged stakeholders and effective dissemination of project outcomes By ensuring these results are implemented by industrial partners both during and after the project, they will benefit not only stakeholders, chemical industries, and consortium partners but also the general public.

Ongoing

Products 1.439

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Peer2Peer Student Support Program

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product

Supporting Adolescents with Mental Health Problems in Secondary Education: Feasibility of a Supported Education Intervention

LINK

product

Peer2Peer Student Support Program

For students who want support to continue their education.

PDF

Projects 11

project

Community Participation through Education

Finished

project

Desiging an empathic chatbot for supporting victims of sexual assault

Finished

project

FIT TO PERFORM: Onderzoek naar de fysieke en mentale gezondheid van dansers

Finished

project

Greengage

Ongoing

project

Immersive Sustainable Food Experience Design

Finished

project

Nature's Voice: Embracing Ecosystems Thinking

Ongoing

project

Ph.D.-project 'Examining in-class activities to facilitate academic achievement in higher education: a framework for optimal indoor environmental conditions'

Finished

project

Smartcase - Sustainable Michael Addition Resin Technology for Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers

Ongoing

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Products 1.439

Peer2Peer Student Support Program

Supporting Adolescents with Mental Health Problems in Secondary Education: Feasibility of a Supported Education Intervention

Peer2Peer Student Support Program

Optimizing Students’ Mental Health and Academic Performance: AI-Enhanced Life Crafting

To tell or not to tell about your mental health problems?

Supporting parents with enduring mental health problems

Socioeconomic status and mental health during the COVID-19 crisis

Basisontwerp course Interprofessionele samenwerking bij Infant Mental Health

Projects 11

Community Participation through Education

Desiging an empathic chatbot for supporting victims of sexual assault

FIT TO PERFORM: Onderzoek naar de fysieke en mentale gezondheid van dansers

Greengage

Immersive Sustainable Food Experience Design

Nature's Voice: Embracing Ecosystems Thinking

PANEURAMA

Ph.D.-project 'Examining in-class activities to facilitate academic achievement in higher education: a framework for optimal indoor environmental conditions'

Smartcase - Sustainable Michael Addition Resin Technology for Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers

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Products 1.439

Peer2Peer Student Support Program

Supporting Adolescents with Mental Health Problems in Secondary Education: Feasibility of a Supported Education Intervention

Peer2Peer Student Support Program

Optimizing Students’ Mental Health and Academic Performance: AI-Enhanced Life Crafting

To tell or not to tell about your mental health problems?

Supporting parents with enduring mental health problems

Socioeconomic status and mental health during the COVID-19 crisis

Basisontwerp course Interprofessionele samenwerking bij Infant Mental Health

Projects 11

Community Participation through Education

Desiging an empathic chatbot for supporting victims of sexual assault

FIT TO PERFORM: Onderzoek naar de fysieke en mentale gezondheid van dansers

Greengage

Immersive Sustainable Food Experience Design

Nature's Voice: Embracing Ecosystems Thinking

PANEURAMA

Ph.D.-project 'Examining in-class activities to facilitate academic achievement in higher education: a framework for optimal indoor environmental conditions'

Smartcase - Sustainable Michael Addition Resin Technology for Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers