Research group/lab | E.M.W.J. Utens, PhD

Pediatric psychology

Pediatric psychology entails practice, targeting the psychology of illness and injury, and promoting health behaviors in children, adolescents and families.

About our research group/lab

Our research

Background information

This group was formed to share and enhance knowledge in the field of pediatric psychology. To this aim we collaborate with medical specialists and allied health personnel.

Overall aim

To facilitate, strengthen and innovate research in the field of pediatric psychology, in order to:

Optimize evidence-based psychosocial care for somatically ill children and their families.
Publish articles in internationally peer-reviewed and high ranking journals.
Obtain external funding for innovative research.
Develop innovative 'evidence-based' treatment interventions for somatically ill children and their families.

Research focus areas

Cross-sectional studies on long-term (neuro) psychological outcomes.
Longitudinal cohort studies on psychological and neuropsychological outcomes.
Intervention studies (RCTs) on innovative treatment modules (e.g. Virtual reality, e-Health, workgroups) to improve somatically ill children and their families’ emotional resilience, and neuropsychological functioning.

Our projects

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontaltemporal dementia (FTD)

Both ALS and FTD can result from a GGGGCC repeat expansion in the C9orf72 gene. While normally the repeat is present 2-8X, in ALS/FTD patients it can be expanded 100x to 4000x.

CHIP-Family for young children with congenital heart disease

We are researching the effect of the multidisciplinary, psychosocial CHIP-Family intervention on wellbeing of young children with congenital heart disease and their families.

HAPPY IBD

Reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in young patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in order to improve quality of life and the clinical course of disease.

PICASsO study

We address three questions: How are children with intestinal failure dependent on parenteral nutrition? How are their parents coping? How can we help them?

Virtual reality before day care surgery in children (VR)

We have developed a virtual reality exposure tool and are researching its effectiveness on anxiety and pain reduction in children undergoing elective day care surgery.