2011, Article / Letter to editor (vol. 86, (2011), pp. 372-394)In this study we include personal war experiences in Duncan's path model of sta-tus attainment to answer the following research question: To what extent can personal war experiences explain the occupational status of Dutch people who experienced World War II? We expect that personal war experiences have a detri-mental effect on the human capital formation, which in turn leads to a lower edu-cational level and a lower occupational status. To test our hypotheses, we use uni-que individual-level data from the 'Onderzoek naar Doorsnee Nederlanders in de oorlog', which was conducted from 2005 to 2010 (N = 346). The results of our path analysis show that people who were forced to work in Germany or the Netherlands during the war obtained a lower educational level and subsequently a lower occu-pational status. Physical destruction of one's house also has a negative effect on occupational status through education. In addition, we found some direct effects of personal war experiences on the occupational status.
2019, Article / Letter to editor (Journal of Social Intervention : Theory and Practice, vol. 28, iss. 4, (2019), pp. 24-48)SAMENVATTING
Empowerment is een centraal begrip binnen het sociaal werk in Nederland en Vlaanderen. Er is behoefte aan meetinstrumenten die de empowerende effecten van hulpaanbod blootleggen. De wijze waarop meetinstrumenten ontwikkeld worden, lijkt echter invloed te hebben op de kwaliteit van de instrumenten (Steenssens, Van Regenmortel & Schalk, 2017). Een vijftal kwaliteitsstandaarden is ontwikkeld, waarmee uitspraken gedaan kunnen worden over de kwaliteit van de totstandkoming van dergelijke meetinstrumenten. Om zicht te krijgen op de waarde
van deze kwaliteitsstandaarden wordt in dit artikel de wijze waarop een drietal empowerment meetinstrumenten ontwikkeld zijn, kritisch beschouwd vanuit deze standaarden. Dit is gedaan door semigestructureerde interviews met ontwikkelaars te combineren met analyses van bestaand materiaal over de instrumenten. De kwaliteitsstandaarden blijken een kader te bieden met richtlijnen voor instrumentontwikkeling. Het blijkt van belang om goed af te bakenen wat gemeten
wordt, zodat een volledig beeld van empowerment verkregen wordt. Verder is goede afstemming tussen contextspecifieke elementen en meer generieke elementen in itemopbouw nodig en is betrokkenheid van de doelgroep bij instrumentontwikkeling noodzakelijk.
SUMMARY
Empowerment is a central concept within social work in the Netherlands and Flanders. Both citizens, professionals and politics require measuring instruments that expose the empowering effect of social interventions. There are various measuring instruments that aim to measure different levels of empowerment. The way in which measuring instruments are developed, however, seems to affect the quality of the instrument. Important is the way in which an instrument is based on the theoretical framework; the extent to which the target group is involved in the development of an instrument; the extent to which the definition of the concept of empowerment is aligned with the perception of the target group. To this end and with this in mind, five quality standards have been developed in Flanders, and tested in the context of organization empowerment and in the context of social work, with which statements can be made about the value of the creation of a measuring tool for empowerment. These relate to the scope of the instrument, the context specificity of the instrument, the extent to which the target group is involved in the development, the extent to which the target group is involved in the use of the instrument and the extent to which the instrument distinguishes processes and outcomes of empowerment. In this article, the way in which a number of measurement tools of empowerment have been developed is critically considered and evaluated based on these quality standards, in order to gain insight into the value of these quality standards as a framework for developing instruments. The last standard, concerning processes and outcomes is not taking into account, due to the limited research design and the limited time frame of this study.
The development of three validated measuring instruments that are used in social work, have been studied by combining semi-structured interviews with the developers with existing material about the instruments. The five quality standards formed the starting point for the questions to the developers, looking for similarities and deviations between the development of their instrument and the standards.
The quality standards offer a quality framework and provide insight into the development possibilities of measuring instruments. One conclusion confirms the importance of a good definition of what is measured so that a complete picture of empowerment can be acquired. It became apparent that a tension arises when developers deviate from the theoretical framework of empowerment in determining which items should be included and only the perception of the target group was a determining factor, even though the perception of the target group is crucial for the creation of a fitting instrument. Related to this, the target group of an instrument can, in addition to the clients of social workers, also be defined as the social workers themselves. They represent the professional perspective of empowerment in the lives of their clients. Furthermore, a good match between context-specific elements and more generic elements in item building seems promising. The extent to which the target group is involved in the use of the instrument and in the processing of the data depends on the organizations that use the instrument, the developers state that they have no influence on this. While using the various instruments, social workers found out that the measurements of empowerment, in addition to the numerical value, also form a relevant and practical ‘conversation tool’ for social workers, with which they discuss possibilities and limitations with their clients
Keywords: Sociaal werk, empowerment, meetinstrumenten, kwaliteitsstandaarden, contextspecificiteit, reikwijdte, doelgroepparticipatie.
2008, Book (monograph) Luisteren naar wat mensen beweegt is één van de interessante en tevens moeilijke onderdelen van het werk in wonen, welzijn en zorg. Interessant omdat er, als we goed luisteren, nieuwe werelden voor ons opengaan. Moeilijk omdat we onvermijdelijk ons eigen perspectief meebrengen in het gesprek, inclusief al onze eigen ervaringen, ambities en nuances. Daardoor horen we vaak vooral die dingen die óns bezighouden. Dit speelt op individueel niveau, in de relatie tussen dienstverlener en burger en op collectief niveau in het aanbod en in de beleidsformulering.
2011, Book (monograph) In de verschillende sociaal-agogische opleidingen verdiepen studenten zich in kennis en inzichten uit verschillende wetenschapsgebieden en praktijkervaringen. Langzamerhand bouwen zij een kennisbasis op die de grondslag vormt voor hun handelen. Niet alle studenten vinden het leren van kennis vanzelfsprekend, gemakkelijk of leuk om te doen. Dit boek geeft handreikingen om beter te begrijpen wat de relevantie is van een kennisbasis in het sociaalagogisch werk en hoe je deze kennisbasis opbouwt en onderhoudt.
2018, Part of book or chapter of book (, pp. 67-84)Om de vraag te beantwoorden wat de capabilitybenadering het sociale domein te bieden heeft, kijken we naar de bruikbaarheid van de capabilitybenadering voor het brede werkveld van welzijn, samenleven en zorg. Aandachtsgebieden van de capabilitybenadering die bruikbaar zijn voor het werkveld zijn: (1) sterke relatie tussen individu en omgeving; (2) integrale benadering van menselijk functioneren; (3) nadruk op keuzemogelijkheden; en (4) de aandacht voor structurele patronen van sociale ongelijkheid. We bekijken het ook andersom: sociaalwerkpraktijken sluiten op verschillende manieren aan bij de capabilitybenadering. Zij proberen positieve vrijheid van individuen te faciliteren, werken aan thema’s als armoede, ongelijkheid en eenzaamheid, en maken veel gebruik van krachtgerichte benaderingen. Daarin staat het sociaal werk echter niet alleen. Het conceptueel kader dat de capabilitybenadering het sociale domein biedt staat een kritische blik toe op sociaal werk als middel naast andere disciplines waarin individuele kwaliteit van leven centraal staat.
2021, Part of book or chapter of book (Alderliesten, J.; Repetur, L.; Ham, M. (ed.), Hoopvol en Kwetsbaar. Omzien naar elkaar in tijden van Corona, pp. 43-47)
2019, Article in monograph or in proceedings (Parallel session of the European Association for Sociology of Sports Conference (EASS2019))Earlier quantitative research shows that major life events that mark the transition to adulthood (emerging adulthood) affect sport participation, mostly in a negative way. However, insight regarding the explanatory mechanisms behind these effects, which is needed to better prevent drop out and stimulate sport participation over the life course, is lacking. This qualitative study aims to fill this gap by investigating why people change their sport behaviour during emerging adulthood, specifically when major life events occur that mark this transition period within two life domains: the professional career (e.g. entering high/secondary school and higher education, leaving fulltime education, beginning to work) and the family domain (e.g. engaging in an intimate relationship, cohabitation, marriage, becoming a parent). Analysis of 45 Dutch adults’ narratives on their sport participation during the transition to adulthood and the role of these life events, revealed that when the life events occurred, new time consuming and physically and/or psychological demanding activities, roles and responsibilities arose that are more obligatory and fixed, and held higher social pay-offs then (existing) sport activities. This altered people’s daily routines and led to a reconfiguration of resources with (new) opportunities and constraints for sport participation. Based on this new resource balance and associated opportunities and constraints for sport participation, people made a deliberate choice on if sport participation fitted in their new life situation or not, and if so, in what way/how it fitted best. However, there was diversity in the choices that people made regarding (changing) their sport participation, based on different trade-offs between their opportunities and constraints for sport participation.
2012, Dissertation In the twentieth century, the religious landscape of the Netherlands has changed quickly from one of the most Christian countries of Europe to one of the most secularized countries. In 1909, 57% of the population were Protestant, 35% were Catholic and only 5% were not religiously affiliated (Knippenberg 1992). This image is in great contrast to the data from one century later. In 2006, 16% of the Dutch were Catholic, 14% were Protestant, 9% belonged to other denominations or religions and the biggest group of 61% was religiously unaffiliated (Bernts, et al. 2007). Until the 1960s, in the Netherlands most people were born as either Catholic, Protestant or Socialist and eventually went to school, made friends, married and died as such (Van Eijnatten and Van Lieburg 2006). This structure that divided society and in fact the whole of daily life into certain pillars of denomination is called ‘pillarization’. In the past sixty years, the all-encompassing influence of religious institutions decreased, crumbling the pillars of denomination, a process called ‘depillarization’. As a result, not only church attendance diminished, in fact the pillarized character of the whole of public life, varying from sports clubs to schools unsettled.
2017, Article / Letter to editor (Psychology of Music, vol. 46, iss. 4, (2017), pp. 568-587)Music as an effective self-regulative tool for emotions and behavioural adaptation for adolescents might enhance emotion-related skills when applied as a therapeutic school intervention. This study investigated Rap & Sing Music Therapy in a school-based programme, to support self-regulative abilities for well-being. One-hundred-and-ninety adolescents in grade 8 of a public school in the Netherlands were randomly assigned to an experimental group involving Rap & Sing Music Therapy or a control group. Both interventions were applied to six classes once a week during four months. Measurements at baseline and again after four months provided outcome data of adolescents’ psychological well-being, self-description, self-esteem and emotion regulation. Significant differences between groups on the SDQ teacher test indicated a stabilized Rap & Sing Music Therapy group, as opposed to increased problems in the control group (p = .001; ?p2 = .132). Total problem scores of all tests indicated significant improvements in the Rap & Sing Music Therapy group. The RCT results imply overall benefits of Rap & Sing Music Therapy in a school setting. There were improved effects on all measures – as they are in line with school interventions of motivational engagement in behavioural, emotional and social themes – a promising result.
2009, Part of book or chapter of book (Psychosociale hulpverlening voor naasten van traumapatiënten, pp. 37-55)Om te kunnen bepalen of de hulpverlening van maatschappelijk werk aan naasten van traumapatiënten aansluit bij hun behoeften is inzicht in deze behoeften nodig. Er is niet eerder onderzoek gedaan naar de behoeften van deze specifieke groep, maar er is wel veel bekend over de behoeften van naasten van patiënten die zijn opgenomen op de intensive care (Verhaeghe e.a., 2005a; Bijttebier e.a., 2000; Kaljouw, 1998; Davis-Martin, 1994; Leske, 1986; Daley, 1984). Daarbij werd meestal gebruik gemaakt van vragenlijsten die gebaseerd zijn op Molter΄s (1979) Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI). Deze is vanuit een verplegingswetenschappelijk perspectief ontwikkeld. De vragen richten zich op de omstandigheden in het ziekenhuis (informatie, ondersteuning en toegankelijkheid). De categorie ondersteuning beperkt zich tot emotionele ondersteuning (psychisch). Er zijn geen items opgenomen die behoeften meten voortvloeiend uit sociale en maatschappelijke gevolgen van de opname.
2019, Part of book or chapter of book (Vos, N. de; Keinemans, S.; Heijst, P. van (ed.), Art Based Research voor het social domein. Op kunsten gebaseerd praktijkgericht onderzoek, pp. 145-166)
2021, Article in monograph or in proceedings (proceedings worden niet gepubliceerd)The way in which individuals perceive their quality of life is influenced by the contexts in which they live. Each
of them perceives these contexts differently. Moreover, individuals' perception of their possibilities to
influence their context and make use of their resources, differs greatly and appears to depend on aspects as
individual motives, limiting or stimulating factors, resources, and whether these activities are meaningful to
them. These aspects are interrelated within their contexts in complex and fluid ways. To better understand this
fluidity we contend that the conceptualization of 'agency' of individuals from the Capabilities Approach, is
useful. Agency refers to the conversion of a person's assets into realistic opportunities, allowing him/her to
exercise agency by choosing how he/she prefers to function. This conversion process is limited or enhanced by
factors in the social, physical and personal environment. This suggests that Salutogenic theory and the
Capability Approach (CA) have complementary qualities. Therefore, we propose adding the dimension of
?agency' to the dimensions of SOC in the salutogenic model to better understand and facilitate how individuals
experience quality of life.