Child research

STRATEGIC THEMES: INTERDISCIPLINARITY
Janjaap
van der Net,
PhD is a pediatric
physiotherapist and
clinical health scientist,
whose special interest is
motor-proficiency and
physical literacy in
childhood chronic
conditions.
Tim Takken, PhD is
medical physiologist
and a special interest in
clinical pediatric
exercise physiology.
t.takken@umcutrecht.nl
jnet@umcutrecht.nl
Become competent now,
to be confident later
A family-centered and interdisciplinary showcase for Child Health research
At the Center for Child Development, Exercise and Physical
Literacy, we study Activity & Health in Childhood Chronic
Conditions. This is done in close collaboration with the
Psychosocial Depart ment of the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital,
which focuses on Empowerment and Resilience in Childhood
Chronic Conditions. Embedded within the Child Health
Program is this complementary, interdisciplinary approach to
studying health in childhood chronic conditions from a social,
behavioral and physical activity perspective.
Studying health within the context of disease
An inspiring example is the Congenital Heart Disease-Lifespan
study (CHD-Ls), a program in which health, rather than disease
alone, in children with a congenital heart disease (CHD) and
their families is longitudinally studied from as early as 20 weeks
of gestation into their 40s. we focus on a family-centered and
patient-centered perspective and on the physical, cognitive
and emotional development and health in children with CHD
and their family members.
Nested within the CHD-Ls study is the CRUCIAL TRIAL, a
collaboration between obstetrics, pediatric cardiology and
cardiosurgery, neonatal and pediatric intensive care medicine,
as well as pediatric physiotherapy, exercise physiology and
pediatric psychology. This trial aims to minimize cerebral
damage and increase cardiac health during pregnancy,
perinatally and in early childhood to improve neuro-cognitive
and motor-development as well as long-term health-related
fitness in children with a congenital heart disease.
Promoting physical activity in children with
a chronic condition
With survival rates increasing in childhood conditions (e.g.
cystic fibrosis, childhood cancer and more recently, spinal
muscular atrophy), as well as more efficient disease control (e.g.
pediatric rheumatic conditions and hemophilia), there is an
increasing desire from children and their families to be able to
fully participate in an active healthy lifestyle. We therefore
joined the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, together with
Mark Tremblay, PhD, and expert in exercise science at the
University of Ottawa, Canada, and produced the Dutch Physical
Activity Report Card for Children and Youth. In this
interdisciplinary and societal project, we collaborated with
many national societal organizations and mapped health
policies on local, municipal, provincial and national levels to
improve active healthy living in children with a chronic
condition. Together with the Department of Preventive
Medicine and Youth from the municipality of Utrecht, we’re
currently implementing a program “WKZsportief” to improve
physical literacy, and to enhance participation in sports and
active recreation in children with chronic conditions. Our motto
for this approach is: become competent now, to be confident
later.
36 UMC Utrecht - Child research