In the Netherlands, approximately 1 million children (0-25 years) have a chronic disease. Above and beyond the ever-present challenges of growing up with an illness, these children have 40% chance to develop psychological problems, including depression, anxiety and loneliness. Throughout their life, this translates into decreased well-being and reduced social participation and generates additional costs for society. Early prevention of psychological problems is thus key to break this vicious cycle. Therefore, eHealth applications are promising. However, scientific knowledge is missing and validated tools are not yet available for this group and involved health care professionals. Our mission is to make scientifically validated eHealth tools that allow personalized and trans-diagnostic prevention of psychological problems widely available for this highly vulnerable group of chronically ill children and future adults, through an accessible, user-friendly, safe, and sustainable platform. To succeed in this mission, we present an iterative learning cycle approach in two four-year phases during which we gather the insights, and develop, evaluate, and implement the much needed eHealth tools: I. Development: Distil and validate the theoretical and game-design factors that make eHealth effective for chronically ill children. II. Evaluation: Evaluate trans-diagnostic and personalized eHealth tools for chronically ill children, using and developing state-of-the-art methods. III. Implementation: Study and remove the barriers that currently hinder implementation and uptake, and threaten availability of eHealth applications for chronically ill children. Our eHealth junior consortium includes (applied) researchers, pediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, patient organizations, knowledge centers, game designers, industrial designers, insurance companies, and business professionals. We will collaborate with the end-users (children, families, and professionals) in order to achieve both international scientific breakthroughs and optimal clinical and societal impact. Knowledge utilization is a crucial part of our project.

Youths’ involvement in organized crime is worrisome, as it not only disrupts a healthy development, but also aggravates youths’ criminal behavior, and makes it harder to return to living a crime-free life. Social ties play an import role in the way youths get and stay involved in organized crime, that is why interventions are needed that target the youth, but also the youth’s social environment. We examine hotspots and mechanisms underlying organized crime involvement and use the knowledge gained to improve and implement intervention strategies. This way, the proposed project directly contributes to effectively decreasing youths’ involvement in organized crime.

Youths’ involvement in organized crime is worrisome, as it not only disrupts a healthy development, but also aggravates youths’ criminal behavior, and makes it harder to return to living a crime-free life. Social ties play an import role in the way youths get and stay involved in organized crime, that is why interventions are needed that target the youth, but also the youth’s social environment. We examine hotspots and mechanisms underlying organized crime involvement and use the knowledge gained to improve and implement intervention strategies. This way, the proposed project directly contributes to effectively decreasing youths’ involvement in organized crime.

Juveniles involved in criminal behaviour might face the criminal justice system, aimed at both repression and rehabilitation. This dual character makes it challenging to establish a high-quality working relationship with juvenile offenders, although this relationship is very important for positive outcomes. Enhancing professionals’ treatment skills (e.g. empathy and communication) may lead to a better working relationship, increased motivation for behavioural change, and reduced re-offending. Young in Prison (YiP) provides such a training for probation officers, in which experience experts (EEs; ex-offenders) aim to transfer their experiences with and recommendations for probation officers to professionals. This project aims to gain insight into empathy and knowledge transfer as mechanisms in juvenile offender treatment. We will investigate the knowledge, insights and skills that are being transferred from EEs to probation officers, and their perceived impact. Based on storytelling by EEs we will analyse the knowledge transferred to professionals and observe how professionals apply this knowledge during the training. After the training, we will use audio-recordings and a digital survey to analyse how professionals reflect on their empathy and communication skills. We will develop a podcast representing the perspectives of EEs and probation officers regarding empathy and communication in their interaction.

The STRONGER2GETHER project supports youth flourish by strengthening social relationships, which are crucial for their mental health and well-being. Focusing on underrepresented groups such as vocational and special education students, we co-create and test interventions that promote positive relationships and youth flourishing in schools, online, and sports context. These insights will be integrated into the curricula of future professionals, enabling them to better support young people in their social and mental development. The project aims to create lasting societal impact by empowering educational environments to foster resilience and positive social connections for all youth.