Child research

STRATEGIC THEMES: MENTAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH
Childhood
cancer affects the
whole family.
Screening
and
monitoring help to
prevent traumatic stress
and provide timely
interventions.
- Martha Grootenhuis
rheumatology, pulmonology and oncology. Together with Elise
van de Putte, MD, PhD, she’s translated insights into tailored
e-health interventions: FitNet-plus, a web-based portal for
cognitive behavioral therapy; and PROfeel, a smartphone app
where children can log their complaints in real-time.
Martha’s group has longitudinally studied several pediatric
populations. Her studies demonstrate, for example, that young
adults who grow up with a childhood chronic disease achieve
fewer milestones, or achieve them later than their peers across
different domains (i.e. autonomy, psychosexual and social). A
delayed social development, including limited participation in
sports, was related to a lower quality of life in adulthood. This
underlines the urgent need to address social development
earlier in life.
Together with Elise van Putte, MD, PhD, we collaborate in the
PROactive study (Patient Reported Outcomes in Adolescents
with Chronic/life-threatening disease and Tailored
InterVentions in a digital Environment). PROactive enables the
early detection of a disturbed psychosocial development and
prompts subsequent interventions, that considers the
perspective of both the child and his or her family, and aims to
improve self-management and growth towards independency
in adulthood. In particular, we have a special focus on fatigue
and social/sports activities.
Early interventions will empower our chronically ill patients
and help them cope with the psychosocial effects of their
physical condition. We expect that, through health play and
game interventions, our patients will develop into healthy
resilient adults.
UMC Utrecht - Child research 39