Background Home-visiting programs often aim to improve parenting skills, parent-child relationships, and children’s developmental outcomes for at-risk families. Although research has identified what elements of these interventions are effective when provided by professionals, little is known about effective …

Mental health problems are highly prevalent worldwide and the mental health system faces significant gaps in treatment coverage due to stigma, professional shortages and accessibility issues. In the Netherlands, patients first visit their general practitioner (GP) for mental health problems, with an …

Aims and objectives: To identify and synthesise empirical evidence on the perspectives of nurses regarding factors that enable and/or obstruct the delivery of compassionate care. Methodological design and justification: A scoping review was chosen for its capacity to perform a broad exploration of the …

Background: Although maternity care is linked to improved health outcomes, it is often insufficiently tailored to the needs of low socioeconomic position (SEP) majority population women in high-income countries, leading to obstacles in achieving good health. Cultural competence can contribute to access …

This viewpoint article explores the potential of multistakeholder participatory scenario planning (PSP) as a tool to foster a sustainable visitor economy in underprivileged neighbourhoods. Feijenoord, a district in Rotterdam, is such an area. While the visitor economy offers economic benefits, it can …

In this thesis, we focus on developing behaviours for socially interactive agents (SIAs). The context in which the agent is used is a self-regulated learning system for children. We focus on personalising learning objectives and interaction content within an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). We envision …

The metaverse is one of the most promising technological frontiers in healthcare. It consists of three major components, working together to form a collective virtual shared healthcare space: telemedicine (through virtual reality or augmented reality), digital twin (a virtual, digital equivalent to a …

Chapter 1: General introduction. A specific group of people with disabilities includes individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). However, individuals with PIMD form a heterogeneous group regarding the origins of their underlying conditions leading to profound disabilities …

This thesis addresses two important issues in midwifery: I) the care and support provided by midwives to women and their families facing vulnerable circumstances during pregnancy and childbirth, and II) the role and tasks of clinical midwives in Dutch hospitals.

Background: A Dutch nationwide prospective cohort study was initiated to investigate recovery trajectories of people recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and costs of treatment by primary care allied health professionals.  Objectives: The study described recovery trajectories over a period …