Sleep has an immediate and long-term impact on cognitive, mental and physical health. Despite its impact, the Dutch population is sleeping too little and often of poor quality. In our research we aim to unravel the complexity of sleep health, its strong and interrelated connection with performance pressure and screen use, and develop interventions promoting sleep health in several key-populations across all age groups.
Central to my work is the systems approach, whereby we take the complexity of sleep health into account. To understand and change the system I work with great pleasure and dedication on connecting practice, policy and science in which we work closely with municipalities, GGDs, and health professionals. I am an expert in the systematic development of interventions by applying the Behaviour Change Wheel or Intervention Mapping protocol and I train professionals and students in this area. To develop and implement sustainable interventions, the participation of relevant actors is central in our work, including methods for participatory system dynamics and co-creation with actors.
Examples of our research projects are:
* Always Connected: Mental wellbeing in young adults in a digital world
* Thriving Teens: promoting mental wellbeing in young teens applying a systems approach.
* Charge Your Brainzzz 2.0: promoting sleep health in teens applying a systems approach.
* Charge Your Brainzzz: evaluating a school education program promoting sleep health in adolescents.
* Measuring Sleep Health in schoolchildren
* Integral Sleep Approach: Promoting sleep health in schoolchildren
In the next years I plan to further expand my research line on sleep health and further explore its strong and interrelated connection with performance pressure and screen use, to understand the system that shape these health outcomes, and to co-create ready-to-use intervention strategies and systems adaptations to improve current and future population health.
I lead several large projects and manage a team of several PhD students. My leadership style is described as connecting, inspiring and motivating. I have an eye for different interests and I empower people to speak up. I do however not only take care of my own PhD students, but strive to improve the mental wellbeing of all PhD students- in general a vulnerable group in science. As member of the PhD taskforce, we have developed a roadmap to change our faculty's academic system benefiting the mental wellbeing in PhD students. This transition has such a positive impact that we as APH PhD education committee, of which I am chair of, are currently initiating a similar transition in the APH research institute.
