Dike van de Mheen

Tilburg University | UVT · "Tranzo" Scientific Center for Care and Welfare

Since the Dutch tolerance policy, allowing the purchase of cannabis in ‘coffeeshops’, is associated with problems of public order and safety as well as health risks, there has been a long debate about legalisation of cannabis production and supply. It was therefore decided to conduct an experiment with a controlled legal (‘closed’) cannabis supply...

Background A need-supportive group climate is a prerequisite for successful treatment in secure residential youth care. For girls, positive relationships with peers are an essential part of the group climate. Relational aggression threatens the residential group climate. Objectives This study explored whether a group counseling program can activel...

Around 2009, ‘recovery’ was introduced in the Netherlands as a new approach to drug addiction and addiction services. Recovery is now featured in practice-level policy but is absent in governmental drug policy. To investigate whether the Dutch recovery vision is coherent with governmental drug policy, we apply Bacchi’s What’s the problem represente...

The rationale of our study was that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of health from 1947 which includes “… complete physical, mental and social wellbeing…” does not fit the current societal viewpoints anymore. The WHO’s definition of health implies that many people with chronic illnesses or disabilities would be considered unhealthy...

Background Non-moderated alcohol use is more prevalent among hospitalized patients compared to the general population. However, many hospitals fail to find and intervene with people with alcohol problems. We aimed to conduct an exploration of impeding and facilitating factors experienced by healthcare professionals in implementation of alcohol inte...

Garretsen, HFL, Roeg, DPK, van Weeghel J. & van de Mheen, H. De rol van ervaringsdeskundigen in alcohol- en drugsonderzoek in Nederland Verslaving en herstel

For a long time already, attempts have been made to bridge the gap between research and practice. In this respect, society demands that universities should have a bigger social impact. University and society/societal organizations should work together (co-create) during the entire research process, from the articulation of the research question unt...

Een kwetsbare groep burgers onder wie schuldenproblematiek in hoge mate voorkomt zijn delinquenten. Schuldenproblematiek onder deze doelgroep is sterk verweven met problemen op andere levensdomeinen en verhoogt bovendien het risico op terugval in criminaliteit. Reclasseringswerkers missen veelal handvatten om cliënten met schul-denproblematiek te b...

Raising a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) has generated interest and debate in research and politics, but opposition persists. Up to now, the presentation of impacts focussed on effectiveness (i.e., intended impact); to our knowledge, no literature syntheses focussed on both intended and unintended impacts. A systematic scoping review was conduct...

Objectives: In this study, we assess the impact of a home-based diabetes prevention program, Together on Diabetes (TOD), on adolescent responsibility-taking for tasks related to diabetes risk. Methods: Participants were Native American youth ages 10-19 with or at risk of type 2 diabetes who participated in a 12-session, 6-month diabetes prevention...

Objective: In the Netherlands, enforcement of the alcohol age limit is low and inconsistent because of limited resources. A solution is to optimize the efforts of enforcement officers by prioritizing ways in which they regulate commercial alcohol availability. This could increase compliance by sellers, curbing commercial availability. The objectiv...

Aims: The Kettil Bruun Society (KBS) is a leading international society, known in full as the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol. This paper aims to analyse research presented at KBS annual meetings and provide an overview of the developments in the research agenda in the field. In this way we try to gain insigh...

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in perceived living group climate between boys and girls in a sample of 344 youth (68.6% male, M age = 16, SD = 1.58) receiving residential youth care in the Netherlands. Participants filled out self-report measures on living group climate. Results of multilevel regression models indicated tha...

Interactions among peers in residential youth care are an important dynamic factor affecting behavioral adjustment and treatment success. Assessment and monitoring of the quality of peer interactions are potentially important for promoting a positive peer culture at the living group, contributing to a positive social climate. However, currently, th...

Introduction On 23 November 2018 in the Netherlands more than 70 organizations signed the National Prevention Agreement. This document had been set up by the Dutch government aiming to create a healthy generation in 2040. It focuses on alcohol, next to overweight and tobacco control. Participants are a.o. NGO's, the sports sector, insurance compani...

Many studies on addiction recovery focus on recovery initiation and short-term outcomes for alcohol addictions. In this study, we examine associations between three recovery stages and recovery markers for persons in drug addiction recovery. Data were collected for a multi-country study (REC-PATH) among 722 individuals living in the UK, the Netherl...

The relationship between debts and delinquency is still unclear and knowledge about the prevalence and scope of debts among delinquents, which is needed to systematically explore this relationship, is lacking. The present study contains a systematic and scoping literature review on this relationship and analyzed data from risk assessment and client...

In order to improve the effectiveness of offender supervision many studies have been conducted into risk factors for delinquency. Evidence was found that debts and crime are interrelated. However, understanding of potential underlying risk factors in this relationship is limited. Results of an analysis of client files (N = 250) show that debts amon...

Abstract Background Since 2008 mental health practice nurses have been gradually introduced in general practices in the Netherlands as part of health policy aiming to improve early identification and treatment of mental health problems in primary care. This study aims to investigate the effect of the introduction of the practice nurse mental health...

Native American youth aged 10 to 19 years are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes. Intergenerational programs may improve health in tribal communities. We evaluated Together on Diabetes, a diabetes prevention and management program, among 257 participating Native American youths with or at risk for type 2 diabetes and their adult caregiv...

Objective: Primary care professionals are encouraged to screen patients for alcohol abuse. However, patients with alcohol abuse are often underdiagnosed as well as under-registered in medical records in general practices. This study aims to report on the registration rates of alcohol abuse diagnoses in general practices in comparison to patients’ s...

Although homelessness is inherently associated with social exclusion, homeless individuals are rarely included in conventional studies on social exclusion. Use of longitudinal survey data from a cohort study on homeless people in four major Dutch cities (n = 378) allowed to examine: changes in indicators of social exclusion among homeless people ov...

Onderzoeksverslag van een verdiepende studie naar aanleiding van data afkomstig van de Monitor JeugdzorgPlus. Doel van het onderzoek is om inzicht te krijgen in de oorzaak van deze verschillen in prevalentie, in het beloop van verslavingsproblematiek bij cliënten en in de huidige en gewenste aanpak hiervan door JeugdzorgPlus instellingen. Opzet v...

Verdiepende studie naar aanleiding van de data afkomstig van de Monitor JeugdzorgPlus over doorstromen van jongeren met een LVB en/of psychiatrische symptomen. De belangrijkste vragen van dit verdiepende onderzoek is bij welke soort hulp de jongeren met LVB en/of psychiatrische problemen gebaat zijn na uitstroom: wat zijn hun kenmerken en wat is h...

Despite the evidence base, alcohol screening and brief intervention (ASBI) have rarely been integrated into routine clinical practice. The aim of this study is to identify strategies that could tackle barriers to ASBI implementation in general practice by involving primary healthcare professionals and addiction prevention experts. A three-round onl...

To explore whether primary school children of migrant and native Dutch origins differ regarding their sleep duration per night, a risk for overweight and obesity, and to determine to what degree differences in parenting styles contribute to these differences. A cross-sectional survey, including 1,943 children aged 8-9 years old and their primary ca...

Background and aims: Among adolescents problematic (addictive) Internet use has been most convincingly linked to video games and social media. While problematic use of video games has been studied before, little is known about the validity of a problematic use of social media construct. Methods: This study explores the differences between problemat...

Aim To compare the means of body mass index (BMI) and the prevalences of overweight and obesity between native Dutch and migrant primary school children and to assess to what degree differences between these children could be explained by socioeconomic position and BMI of the mother and the father. Subjects and methods A cross-sectional survey w...

Aims: The current study explored the nature of problematic (addictive) video gaming (PVG) and the association with game type, psychosocial health, and substance use. Methods: Data were collected using a paper and pencil survey in the classroom setting. Three samples were aggregated to achieve a total sample of 8478 unique adolescents. Scales inc...

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of alcohol, medication and illicit drug use before accidents in Emergency Department (ED)-treated trauma victims with internationally recommended methods to minimize registration bias. Patients and methods: The study design was cross-sectional and was carried out a...

Although crime victimisation is as prevalent in psychiatric patients as crime perpetration (and possibly more so), few European figures for it are available. We therefore assessed its one-year prevalence and incident rates in Dutch severely mentally ill outpatients, and compared the results with victimisation rates in the general population. This m...

As new media are becoming daily fare, Internet addiction appears as a potential problem in adolescents. From the reported negative consequences, it appears that Internet addiction can have a variety of detrimental outcomes for young people that may require professional intervention. Researchers have now identified a number of activities and persona...

Aims: To provide a qualitative report of the process of development and implementation of a Dutch community intervention in which retail and social alcohol supply for adolescents was restricted. Insight will be provided into how relevant stakeholders evaluated their role in the process. Methods: Qualitative methods were used to analyze the document...

Voor u ligt het themanummer over gedragsverslaving van het tijdschrift Verslaving. Gedragsverslaving met een vraagteken. Want bestaat gedragsverslaving wel? En als het bestaat, wat is het dan? Belangrijke vragen die in dit nummer aan de orde komen. We nemen vier risicovolle gedragingen of gedragsverslavingen onder de loep: gokken, internetten, game...

Of we het nu ‘internetverslaving’ noemen of zien als een uit de hand gelopen hobby, het is duidelijk dat een aanzienlijke groep adolescenten aangeeft dat ze problemen hebben om hun internet- en gamegedrag onder controle te houden. Daarnaast is er een kleine(re) groep jongeren en jongvolwassenen die daadwerkelijk klinische hulp zoekt voor problemen...

Garretsen, H., Audenaerdt, M., van de Goor, I., van de Mheen, D., Roeg, D., van der Sar, R. & Schoenmakers, T. (2012). Social and epidemiological research on alcohol: Research presented at meeting of the Kettil Bruun Society between 1983 and 2010. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 1(1), 95-110. doi: 10.7895/ijadr.v1i1.44 (http://d...

Overmatig alcoholgebruik is een risicofactor voor gezondheid en welzijnsproblemen. Bij ouderen zijn er belangrijke aandachtspunten voor de herkenning en behandeling van alcoholproblematiek, die door huisartsen vaak niet herkend worden en niet gedekt zijn in de huidige trainingsprogramma’s voor de huisartsenpraktijk. Om deze lacune op te vullen, hee...

Background: This study explores which demographic, behavioral and social-cognitive factors correlate with intention to obtain hepatitis B vaccination among commercial sex workers (CSWs). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which CSWs were interviewed on site (clubs, prostitution zones, etc.). Recruitment was based on ethnographic mapp...

In the addiction field, the approach to the client is being discussed because the care that is offered is apparently not fully effective, efficient or of sufficient quality. In the Netherlands the new policy direction in the addiction field aims at improving the quality and innovation of care and prevention by use of evidence‐based research. One of...

Alcoholproblematiek is in de media een actueel onderwerp. Zowel op nationaal als lokaal niveau maakt de overheid zich zorgen en wordt alcoholbeleid voorbereid en uitgevoerd. Maar wat is de omvang van de problematiek? Wat weten we over trends in (problematisch) alcoholgebruik bij jongeren en wat is bekend over de gevolgen? De hier gepresenteerde cij...

Alcoholgebruik onder jongeren is de laatste jaren vaak in het nieuws geweest. Aanleiding hiervoor was de aanzienlijke stijging van het alcoholgebruik onder twaalf- tot veertienjarigen tussen 1999 en 2003, in combinatie met nieuwe informatie over de schadelijkheid die dit kan toebrengen aan de ontwikkeling van de hersenen. Deze gegevens vormden voor...

The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of ‘cultural/behavioural’ and ‘materialist/structuralist’ explanations for socio-economic inequalities in health, and to examine the interrelationship between them. We used data from a survey among a sample of the population in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. When analysed separately...

In this article a lifecourse perspective on socio-economic inequalities in health is presented. In a lifecourse perspective, cumulation of adverse socio-economic circumstances and selection are important mechanisms, which successively may cause a downward spiral. A conceptual model is examined with empirical data. Three processes in the explanation...

In opdracht van de Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst Rotterdam Rijnmond onderzocht onderzoeksbureau IVO enkele aspecten van het project (z)Onderdak, waar ruim 350 verslaafden worden gehuisvest. In deze bijdrage schetsen we kort de achtergrond van het project, hoe de instroom van cliënten verloopt, wat de kenmerken van cliënten zijn en wat hun zorgbeh...

This study examined levels of internalizing and externalizing problems over the full spectrum of alcohol consumption in young adults and identified whether social factors account for the associations of alcohol consumption with internalizing and externalizing problems. This study was a cross-sectional random sample study among 2,258 young adult men...

In The Netherlands, a substantial part of the population of chronic hard drug users and alcoholics is reached by offering low-threshold services addressing basic needs such as shelter, health care and methadone substitution. It is known, however, that the needs of this category of addicts are more differentiated than can be demonstrated in the cont...

Dutch Cocaine Trade - Impressions of participants in drug distribution chains - This research project tries to draw a picture of cocaine distribution chains in the Netherlands as seen through the eyes of the participants. The research question for the whole project is: Which structures and methods of working are characteristic for distribution c...

This article based, on 38 in-depth interviews with Rotterdam cocaine retail dealers, aims to present a clearer picture of how cocaine supply lines in the Netherlands are organized in order to fine-tune policy with respect to crime, public order and safety on the different trade levels. On the retail level the market for cocaine is strictly separate...

The aim of interventions on the supply side of the hard drug market is to diminish or regulate the unwanted effects of the hard drug trade, with respect to both public health and safety. However, initiatives for the regulation of the hard drug trade cannot be pursued at the international governmental level because the sale of hard drugs is forbidde...

Many modern societies increasingly seem to accept drinking patterns that should be qualified as excessive from a health care point of view. This does not concern alcoholism or alcohol addiction but a daily intake of three to eight glasses and the pattern of binge drinking. Although a lot of data are available on the physical consequences of alcohol...

In a non-response follow-up study, non-respondents of the original mailed questionnaire were approached again by house visits in order to compare their alcohol consumption with that of the respondents of the same mailed questionnaire. Differences in alcohol consumption between respondents and non-respondents were found. There is strong evidence for...

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between negative life events and chronic stressors and drinking behaviour. Data suggested that some life events (getting divorced) and some chronic stressors (financial difficulties, unfavourable marital status, and unfavourable employment status) were positively related to abstinence amon...

Background: Socioeconomic differences in health are determined mainly by socioeconomic differences in unhealthy behavior. Little is known, however, about the mechanisms that account for socioeconomic differences in unhealthy behavior, such as excessive alcohol consumption. In this paper we examined educational differences in excessive alcohol cons...

This study examined the role of behavioral and material factors in explaining educational differences in all-cause mortality, taking into account the overlap between both types of factors. Prospective data were used on 15,451 participants in a Dutch longitudinal study. Relative hazards of all-cause mortality by educational level were calculated bef...

To determine the contribution of psychological attributes (personality characteristics and coping styles) to the association between social class in childhood and adult health among men and women. Partly retrospective, partly cross sectional study conducted in the framework of the Dutch GLOBE study. Sample of general population from south east Neth...

The aim was to study the impact of different categories of working conditions on the association between occupational class and self-reported health in the working population. Data were collected through a postal survey conducted in 1991 among inhabitants of 18 municipalities in the southeastern Netherlands. Data concerned 4521 working men and 2411...

ABSTRACT: This article describes the findings of a pioneering research on the economy of drug-dealing on consumer level, as conducted by the Addiction Research Institute Rotterdam. Seventeen drugdealers in four different supply forms (street selling, courier selling, selling from a house-dealing address, and the so called 'facilitated selling') wer...

This article describes the findings of a pioneering research on the economy of drug-dealing on consumer level, as conducted by the Addiction Research Institute Rotterdam. Seventeen drugdealers in four different supply forms (street selling, courier selling, selling from a house-dealing address, and the so called 'facilitated selling') were intervie...

In dit onderzoek werden 183 rokers van cocaïne-base systematisch geobeserveerd. Het grootste deel daarvan werd na afloop ook geïnterviewd. De observaties vonden plaats in drie verschillende settings. Er werden geen grote verschillen gevonden tussen de settings qua gebruikspatroon en zelfregulering. Ongeveer de helft van de gebruikers zette na afloo...

Na het sluiten van Perron Nul in 1994, maakte de gemeente Rotterdam gedurende de tweede helft van de jaren '90 een start met een geïntegreerd drugbeleid waarin zorg en repressie (door de politie) meer op elkaar zijn afgestemd. De GGD Rotterdam schetste in de discussie-nota 'Verantwoord Schoon' de eerste contouren van dat nieuwe beleid, waarin het a...

Although it has frequently been suggested that income affects health, there is hardly any research in which this issue has been explored directly. The aim of this study was, firstly, to examine whether income is independently associated with health, secondly, to assess the extent to which this association reflects high levels of deprivation in low...

Urban-rural health differences are observed in many countries, even when socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are controlled for. People living in urban areas are often found to be less healthy. One of the possible causes for these differences is selective migration with respect to health or health risk factors. This hypothesis is hardly e...

The purpose of this study is to assess to what extent the effect of childhood socioeconomic status on adult health could be explained by a higher prevalence of unhealthy behaviour among those with lower childhood socioeconomic status. Data were obtained from the baseline of a prospective cohort study in the Netherlands (13 854 respondents, aged bet...

We examined whether differences in health were associated with different probabilities of marital transitions in a longitudinal study, using Cox proportional hazard analysis. Data on approximately 10,000 Dutch persons of the GLOBE study, aged 15-74 years, were used for this purpose. The study started in 1991 and study subjects have been followed fo...

The aim was to identify the correlates of educational differences in smoking among adults. We used data from the baseline of a Dutch longitudinal study, relating to a population of 2,462 respondents, ages 25-74. Logistic regression was used to assess the educational gradient in smoking. Current smokers were compared with former and never smokers, r...

In this study the contribution of childhood environment to the explanation of socio-economic inequalities in health in adulthood is examined. Childhood environment was measured using indicators of social, socio-economic and material aspects. Retrospective data obtained from an oral interview, part of the Longitudinal Study on Socio-Economic Health...

Data on self-reported cancer from a health interview survey carried out in 1991 in the southeastern Netherlands by means of a postal questionnaire (n = 17,940) were validated against records from a population-based cancer registry. The sensitivity of the questionnaire was 0.552 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.507-0.597), and the specificity was 0.9...

The uneven distribution of psychosocial stressors as well as their differential health impact have been suggested as a possible explanation for socio-economic inequalities in health. We assessed the importance of both explanations, using data from the baseline of a Dutch longitudinal study. The outcome measure was the prevalence of perceived health...