Papers by Leoniek Wijngaards-de Meij
Partner-Oriented Self-Regulation Scale
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Apr 1, 2012
The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two individual-level psychotherapy inte... more The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two individual-level psychotherapy interventions: (a) treatment as usual consisting of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and (b) work-focused CBT (W-CBT) that integrated work aspects early into the treatment. Both interventions were carried out by psychotherapists with employees on sick leave because of common mental disorders (depression, anxiety, or adjustment disorder). In a quasi-experimental design, 12-month follow-up data of 168 employees were collected. The CBT group consisted of 79 clients, the W-CBT group of 89. Outcome measures were duration until return to work (RTW), mental health problems, and costs to the employer. We found significant effects on duration until RTW in favor of the W-CBT group: full RTW occurred 65 days earlier. Partial RTW occurred 12 days earlier. A significant decrease in mental health problems was equally present in both conditions. The average financial advantage for the employer of an employee in the W-CBT group was estimated at $5,275 U.S. dollars compared with the CBT group. These results show that through focusing more and earlier on work-related aspects and RTW, functional recovery in work can be substantially speeded up within a regular psychotherapeutic setting. This result was achieved without negative side effects on psychological complaints over the course of 1 year. Integrating work-related aspects into CBT is, therefore, a fruitful approach with benefits for employees and employers alike.
Frontiers in Education, Feb 22, 2022
E-learning is increasingly used to support student learning in higher education. This results in ... more E-learning is increasingly used to support student learning in higher education. This results in huge amounts of item response data containing valuable information about students' strengths and weaknesses that can be used to provide effective feedback to both students and teachers. However, in current practice, feedback in e-learning is often given in the form of a simple proportion of correctly solved items rather than diagnostic, actionable feedback. Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) provide opportunities to model the item response data from formative assessments in online learning environments and to obtain diagnostic information to improve teaching and learning. This simulation study explores the demands on the data structure (i.e., assessment length, respondent sample size) to apply log-linear DCMs to empirical data. Thereby we provide guidance to educational practitioners on how many items need to be administered to how many students in order to accurately assess skills at different levels of specificity using DCMs. In addition, effects of misspecification of the dimensionality of the assessed skills on model fit indices are explored. Results show that detecting these misspecifications statistically with DCMs can be problematic. Recommendations and implications for educational practice are discussed.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2005
This longitudinal study examined the relative impact of major variables for predicting adjustment... more This longitudinal study examined the relative impact of major variables for predicting adjustment (in terms of both grief and depression) among bereaved parents following the death of their child. Couples (N ϭ 219) participated 6, 13, and 20 months postloss. Use of multilevel regression analyses enabled assessment of the impact of several predictors and facilitated analysis of factors that were either shared by parents or individual. Grief was predicted mainly by shared parent factors: child's age, cause and unexpectedness of death, and number of remaining children. By contrast, depression was predicted by individual parent factors: gender, religious affiliation, and professional help seeking. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Journal of Family Psychology, Aug 1, 2021
Many established parenting programs for children's conduct problems are delivered in groups. Vari... more Many established parenting programs for children's conduct problems are delivered in groups. Various, and at times conflicting, beliefs exist about whether families fare better in groups with parents that are more similar to them, or in groups that are more diverse. We set out to test these beliefs empirically. We integrated data from four trials of the Incredible Years parenting program in the Netherlands, including 452 families (children age 2-10 years) participating in 44 parenting groups. We used multilevel regression to test whether families benefit more (or less) when they participate in a group with parents that are more similar to them in terms of ethnic background, educational level, and children's baseline conduct problems, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms, and emotional problems. In addition, we tested whether relative group position effects were stronger for some families than for others (e.g., whether especially ethnic minority families benefit from groups that are more ethnically diverse). Families with more severe conduct problems benefited more, but they did not fare better (or worse) in groups where other families were more similar to them. Regarding the other group characteristics, families' relative group position did not predict parenting program effects on children's conduct problems. Our findings held across families with different sociodemographic backgrounds and different levels of children's ADHD symptoms and emotional problems. We found no evidence that parenting group composition impacts the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting program for children's conduct problems.
Applied sciences, May 10, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Research in Higher Education, Aug 16, 2022
In recent decades, female students have been more successful in higher education than their male ... more In recent decades, female students have been more successful in higher education than their male counterparts in the United States and other industrialized countries. A promising explanation for this gender gap are differences in personality, particularly higher levels of conscientiousness among women. Using Structural Equation Modeling on data from 4719 Dutch university students, this study examined to what extent conscientiousness can account for the gender gap in achievement. We also examined whether the role of conscientiousness in accounting for the gender gap differed for students with a nondominant ethnic background compared to students with a dominant ethnic background. In line with our expectations, we found that conscientiousness fully mediated the gender gap in achievement, even when controlling for prior achievement in high school. This was the case among both groups of students. These findings provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the gender gap in achievement in postsecondary education settings. The current study suggests that the use of conscientiousness measures in university admission procedures may disadvantage male students. Instead, the use of such measures may be a fruitful way to identify those students who may benefit from interventions to improve their conscientiousness. Future research could examine how conscientiousness can be fostered among students who are low in conscientiousness.
Personality predicts academic achievement in higher education: Differences by academic field of study?
Learning and Individual Differences, Dec 1, 2021
Partner-Oriented Self-Regulation Scale
PsycTESTS Dataset, 2013
Strengthening educational leadership through a professional development programme in conjunction with a teaching-focused full professor career track: reflections of participants
International Journal for Academic Development
Research in Higher Education
In recent decades, female students have been more successful in higher education than their male ... more In recent decades, female students have been more successful in higher education than their male counterparts in the United States and other industrialized countries. A promising explanation for this gender gap are differences in personality, particularly higher levels of conscientiousness among women. Using Structural Equation Modeling on data from 4719 Dutch university students, this study examined to what extent conscientiousness can account for the gender gap in achievement. We also examined whether the role of conscientiousness in accounting for the gender gap differed for students with a non-dominant ethnic background compared to students with a dominant ethnic background. In line with our expectations, we found that conscientiousness fully mediated the gender gap in achievement, even when controlling for prior achievement in high school. This was the case among both groups of students. These findings provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the gender gap in achievement...
Applied Sciences
E-learning is increasingly used to support student learning in higher education, facilitating adm... more E-learning is increasingly used to support student learning in higher education, facilitating administration of online formative assessments. Although providing diagnostic, actionable feedback is generally more effective, in current practice, feedback is often given in the form of a simple proportion of correctly solved items. This study shows the validation process of constructing detailed diagnostic information on a set of skills, abilities, and cognitive processes (so-called attributes) from students’ item response data with diagnostic classification models. Attribute measurement in the domain of statistics education is validated based on both expert judgment and empirical student data from a think-aloud study and large-scale assessment administration. The constructed assessments provide a valid and reliable measurement of the attributes. Inferences that can be drawn from the results of these formative assessments are discussed and it is demonstrated how this information can be c...
Frontiers in Education, 2022
E-learning is increasingly used to support student learning in higher education. This results in ... more E-learning is increasingly used to support student learning in higher education. This results in huge amounts of item response data containing valuable information about students’ strengths and weaknesses that can be used to provide effective feedback to both students and teachers. However, in current practice, feedback in e-learning is often given in the form of a simple proportion of correctly solved items rather than diagnostic, actionable feedback. Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) provide opportunities to model the item response data from formative assessments in online learning environments and to obtain diagnostic information to improve teaching and learning. This simulation study explores the demands on the data structure (i.e., assessment length, respondent sample size) to apply log-linear DCMs to empirical data. Thereby we provide guidance to educational practitioners on how many items need to be administered to how many students in order to accurately assess skills ...
Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association, 2021
Many established parenting programs for children's conduct problems are delivered in groups. ... more Many established parenting programs for children's conduct problems are delivered in groups. Various, and at times conflicting, beliefs exist about whether families fare better in groups with parents that are more similar to them, or in groups that are more diverse. We set out to test these beliefs empirically. We integrated data from four trials of the Incredible Years parenting program in the Netherlands, including 452 families (children age 2-10 years) participating in 44 parenting groups. We used multilevel regression to test whether families benefit more (or less) when they participate in a group with parents that are more similar to them in terms of ethnic background, educational level, and children's baseline conduct problems, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms, and emotional problems. In addition, we tested whether relative group position effects were stronger for some families than for others (e.g., whether especially ethnic minority families b...
Preventing First Year Dropouts in Higher Education by Educational Trial Day
EDULEARN18 Proceedings, 2018
Personality predicts academic achievement in higher education: Differences by academic field of study?
Learning and Individual Differences, 2021
General Hospital Psychiatry, 2018
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs often in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) su... more Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs often in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) survivors, but how PTSD develops over time post-aSAH is still unclear. We examined the course of PTSD symptoms during the first year after aSAH. Method In this prospective cohort study, the Impact of Event Scale (IES) was applied in 128 patients 3, 6 and 12 months after aSAH. Multilevel modelling was used to assess changes in levels of PTSD symptoms over time and to explore if demographic characteristics, aSAH characteristics, level of education, cognitive functioning and neuroticism are associated to the course of PTSD symptoms. Results Multilevel analyses showed at group level no differences in the average level of PTSD symptoms between 3, 6 of 12 months post-aSAH (p = 0.22). At individual level, changes in PTSD symptoms over time were present (X 2 (121) = 149.73 p = 0.04
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 2018
Purpose This study examined who benefits most from a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based in... more Purpose This study examined who benefits most from a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based intervention that aims to enhance return to work (RTW) among employees who are absent due to common mental disorders (CMDs) (e.g., depression, anxiety, or adjustment disorder). We researched the influence of baseline work-related self-efficacy and mental health (depressive complaints and anxiety) on treatment outcomes of two psychotherapeutic interventions. Methods Using a quasiexperimental design, 12-month follow-up data of 168 employees were collected. Participants either received work-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (W-CBT) that integrated work aspects early into the treatment (n = 89) or regular cognitive behavioural therapy (R-CBT) without a focus on work (n = 79). Results Compared with R-CBT, W-CBT resulted in a faster partial RTW, irrespective of baseline self-efficacy. Among individuals with high self-efficacy, W-CBT also resulted in faster full RTW. The effectiveness of W-CBT on RTW did not depend on baseline depressive complaints or anxiety. The decline of mental health complaints did not differ between the two interventions, nor depended on baseline self-efficacy or mental health. Conclusions Considering the benefits of W-CBT for partial RTW, we recommend this intervention as a preferred method for employees with CMDs, irrespective of baseline self-efficacy, depression and anxiety. For individuals with high baseline self-efficacy, this intervention also results in higher full RTW. For those with low self-efficacy, extra exercises or components may be needed to promote full RTW.
Alignment in the Bachelor Curriculum
ICERI2016 Proceedings, 2016
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2007
The impact of adult attachment on psychological adjustment among bereaved parents and the mediati... more The impact of adult attachment on psychological adjustment among bereaved parents and the mediating effect of relationship satisfaction were examined among a sample of 219 couples of parents. Data collection took place 6, 13, and 20 months after loss. Use of the actor partner interdependence model in multilevel regression analysis enabled exploration of both individual as well as partner attachment as predictors of grief and depression. Results indicated that the more insecurely attached parents were (on both avoidance and anxiety attachment), the higher the symptoms of grief and depression. Neither the attachment pattern of the partner nor similarity of attachment within the couple had any influence on psychological adjustment of the parent. Marital satisfaction partially mediated the association of anxious attachment with symptomatology. Contrary to previous research findings, avoidant attachment was associated with high grief intensity. These findings challenge the notion that th...
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Papers by Leoniek Wijngaards-de Meij