Academic Collaborative Centre Twente: strengthening the care for vulnerable children!

  • Magdalena M. Boere-Boonekamp (Speaker)
  • Riet M.E. Haasnoot (Speaker)
  • Margriet Braun (Speaker)

Activity: Talk or presentationOral presentation

Description

Background and aims
Academic collaborative centres (ACC) are long-term partnerships between one or more (local) youth services, universities, (local) governments, schools (and educational programs) and clients in the Netherlands. The current twelve ACC’s, funded by ZonMw, aim at bridging the worlds of the academia and youth care practice, thereby fostering evidence-based working on the one hand and needs-oriented research on the other. One of these centres is the ACCTwente (www.awjtwente.nl).

Methods
Practitioners, researchers, governments, and clients realize that they have different needs, concerns and perspectives. Thus, they try to accommodate each other in both big (research direction) and small (day-to-day) issues. Though practitioners try to be as flexible as possible, they are limited by government regulation. Researchers amend methods when possible and offer to compensate the time needed for research with activities the researchers can do for the practitioners.

Results
Based on questions brought up in youth care practice, the ACCTwente has been working on two main topics since 2010: Youth Health Professionals’ adherence with a guideline on secondary prevention of child abuse and neglect, and Screening for postpartum depression in youth health care. Apart from this, another twelve minor issues brought up by local government or youth care practitioners were researched in so-called ‘Small-and-fine projects’.

Conclusions
Strong relationships and partnerships have been realized between organizations involved in healthcare, strengthening local networks and improving healthcare facilities. Healthcare professionals have more concrete, applicable methods and instruments at their disposal and more evidence-based knowledge has been generated for policy formulation.
Period6 Sept 2017
Event title19th EUSUHM Congress 2017
Event typeConference
Conference number19
OrganiserEuropean Union for School and University Health and Medicine
LocationLeuven, BelgiumShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational