Geert Jan Stams

University of Amsterdam | UVA · Department of Education

Group climate in residential youth care is considered to be essential for treatment of youth and young adults. Various instruments exist to measure quality of living group climate, but some are lengthy, use complicated wording, which make them difficult to fill out by youth and individuals with a mild intellectual disability. The present study desc...

Background Children from multi-problem families have an increased risk for experiencing mental health problems. These families face problems in several domains that are often found to be chronic and intergenerational. Yet, the effects of mental health care for youths from multi-problem families are small at best, urging research on new treatment pr...

Assessment and monitoring of safety in special education schools is imperative to establish and maintain a safe environment in which students can develop academic and social–emotional skills. The present study describes the development of a student self‐report measure, the Safe at School questionnaire. Factorial validity, reliability and concurrent...

This study examined the development of 74 adolescents (13 to 17 years old, 62% boys) after their placement in the non-residential alternative educational facility School2Care, including the prevention of secure residential placement. Findings Results showed that 70% of the adolescents were not placed in a secure residential facility up until six m...

Background The Covid-19 pandemic may have had negative effects on youth and parental mental health, especially in high-risk populations such as multi-problem families (i.e., families that experience problems in multiple domains, such as mental health and social network problems). Using one to four assessments during all phases of the Covid-19 pande...

This meta-analysis aimed to re-examine the available evidence on the effectiveness of the risk, need, and responsivity principles of the RNR model in family interventions for juvenile delinquency. As previous reviews did not examine these principles fully in line with their original definitions, this review aimed to improve the coding of the RNR pr...

Previous meta-analyses have found small to moderate associations between child-therapist alliance and treatment outcomes. However, these meta-analyses have not taken into account changes in alliance (i.e., alliance shifts), alliance agreement (i.e., congruence or discrepancies between child-therapist ratings), and the role of alliance as a moderato...

Children can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health symptoms after traumatic events. This meta-analysis evaluated the influence of moderators of cognitive behavioural trauma treatment (CBTT) with caregiver involvement in traumatized children. A total of 28 studies were included, with 23 independent samples and 332 effect si...

Background To prevent child welfare involvement by timely referring families to preventive interventions, it is essential to assess the risk of child welfare involvement in the general population as early as possible. Objective: To examine whether child welfare involvement can be predicted by demographic, socioeconomic, and criminal history factors...

Objective: The alliance in child and adolescent psychotherapy is widely recognized as an important factor in therapy. Studies on the alliance have increasingly focused on assessment of the alliance as a dyadic construct, measuring both client and therapist alliance ratings. However, cross-informant reports of the alliance in child psychotherapy ha...

This study examined whether protective factors are unique or the opposite of risk factors and whether they have incremental validity in the prediction of general recidivism. Using a sample of 3306 Dutch forensic outpatients, this study was the first large-sample study ever performed on this topic. Results from exploratory factor analyses demonstrat...

Although most mentoring programs for youth are structured around intergenerational relationships, a growing number of programs rely on cross-age peer mentoring. Such programs capitalize on the availability of youth mentors to promote positive outcomes in younger peers. This study used a multilevel meta-analytic approach to estimate the effect size...

Alliance is a robust contributor to the outcome of adult, youth, and family therapy, but little is known about therapists’ contributions to the alliance in conjoint family treatment. We investigated the predictive value of therapists’ personality, clinical experience and observed alliance building behaviors for mid-treatment alliance as reported by...

Youth-initiated mentoring is an innovative youth care approach in which youth recruit supportive adults from their social networks as a mentor for youth and a partner for parents and professionals. This qualitative interview study documents what youth ( n = 15) and parents ( n = 13) from multi-problem families look for in a mentor, what mentors ( n...

This study examines the extent to which secure residential youth care in the Netherlands complies with children’s rights as laid down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ( uncrc ) and the Dutch Youth Act. Residential group climate was measured with the Prison Group Climate Instrument ( pgci ), which assesses quality of group...

Objectives To examine the effectiveness of social skills training (SST) for juvenile offenders and for whom and under which conditions SSTs are the most effective.Methods Multilevel meta-analyses were conducted to examine the effectiveness of juvenile offender SST compared to no/placebo treatment and alternative treatment on offending, externalizin...

Background Although many child maltreatment risk assessment instruments have been implemented in child welfare organizations, thorough studies on their predictive validity are scarce. Objective To examine (1) the predictive validity of a risk assessment instrument that has been widely implemented in the Netherlands, and to examine (2) whether the...

Personalization is an important strategy for enhancing the effectiveness of treatment that is aimed at reducing the risk of child maltreatment. In recent years, a growing body of research has appeared on how child protection can benefit from the principles of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model, but no attention has yet been paid to the implementation...

This multi-level meta-analysis tested if evidence-based trauma treatment was effective in reducing trauma symptoms and externalizing behavior problems in adolescents. Based on eight independent samples and 75 effect sizes, results indicated that Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR...

Youth initiated mentoring is a hybrid approach that empowers youth to identify and recruit natural mentors, potentially combining the strengths of informal mentoring relationships with the infrastructure and support provided by formal mentoring programs. This meta-analytic review examined the association between youth-initiated programs and youth o...

Most out-of-home placed children have experienced early adversities, including maltreatment and neglect. A challenge for caregivers is to adequately interpret their foster child’s internal mental states and behavior. We examined caregivers’ mind-mindedness in out-of-home care, and the association among caregivers’ mind-mindedness (and its positive,...

In family treatment, building and evaluating multiple alliances with family members is complex. We investigated the occurrence and development of discrepancies between therapists' alliances with different family members, and therapists’ evaluation of these multiple alliances and discrepancies. Participants were 92 parents and 61 children and adoles...

It is important to provide treatment for juvenile and young adult violent offenders, since no or (too) late treatment increases the risk of recidivism and persistent aggressive behavior in adulthood. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of the intervention Responsive Aggression Regulation Therapy (Re‐ART) Outpatient, which has been developed...

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...

Background Theories on the etiology of child maltreatment generally focus on the interaction between multiple risk and protective factors. Moreover, the quadratic model of cumulative risk describes a threshold at which the risk of child maltreatment increases exponentially, suggesting a synergistic effect between risk factors. Objective This study...

This pilot study (N = 25) compared the effects of a short, four‐month version of Responsive Aggression Regulation Therapy Outpatient (Re‐ART Compact) and the entire, ten‐month intervention (Re‐ART Complete) on specific executive functioning (EF) and the risk of violent recidivism in adolescents and young adults (13–23 years). Re‐ART is a cognitive...

Juveniles who become radicalized pose a great threat for society. Although research on radicalization is accumulating, a quantitative review of risk factors for youth radicalization is lacking. Therefore, a series of meta-analyses were conducted on k = 30 studies (247 effect sizes) to examine risk factors for radicalization in youth, yielding signi...

Background: Multi-problem families face problems in several domains that are often found to be chronic and intergenerational. Effective mental health care for youth from these families is currently lacking, urging research on new methods. The InConnection approach is an integrated care program to improve resilience in multi-problem families by con...

Objective This multilevel meta-analysis compared the outcomes of Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Adolescents (TFCO-A) and home-based treatment programs (HBT) with residential youth care for children and youth aged 0 to 23 years. Methods A total of 145 effect sizes for different types of behavioral problems were derived from 24 controlled studies...

Prison-based Dog Programs (PBDPs) are used in correctional facilities to decrease recidivism and improve social-emotional functioning. The aim of this meta-analysis was to provide an overview of the effectiveness of PBDPs, accounting for the potential influence of study, program, and sample characteristics through moderator analyses. We included 11...

Despite decades of increased research and funding, youth mentoring programs, overall, yield small effects on youth outcomes. As a result, there are growing calls for programs to utilize the mentoring relationship as context for intentional, targeted skills development, in which mentors employ targeted skills designed to match the presenting concern...

Juvenile awareness programs, such as Scared Straight, remain in use despite the finding that these programs provoke rather than prevent delinquency. The aim of this study was to examine what program components are associated with program effectiveness, which is important for improving these programs. A three-level meta-analysis was conducted. A lit...

Insecure attachment to primary caregivers is associated with the development of depression symptoms in children and youth. This association has been shown by individual studies testing the relation between attachment and depression and by meta-analyses focusing on broad internalizing problems instead of depression or adult samples only. We therefor...

In this multilevel meta-analysis the outcomes of adolescents with complex problems at risk for school drop-out attending nonresidential alternative educational facilities were examined. Ten studies (87 effect sizes), examining outcomes on social-emotional functioning, academic achievement, academic attitude, externalizing and internalizing problems...

Most youth in residential youth care institutions have a long history of adverse childhood experiences, and show (severe) emotional, behavioral, and academic problems. The present study used adolescent self-report questionnaires to examine associations between living group climate, classroom climate, identification with school, general self-worth a...

Repression in residential youth care institutions threatens youth’s positive development. When youth experience arbitrary use of power, structure, or coercion, this may cause demotivation, reactance or aggression, and diminished chances of rehabilitation in youth. Because institutional repression may be hard to recognize, a valid and reliable measu...

Objectives In the Netherlands, the Actuarial Risk Assessment Instrument for Youth Protection (ARIJ) is a widely used safety and risk assessment instrument in child welfare, although little is known about its reliability. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the reliability of the ARIJ by examining the inter- and intrarater reliability. Methods...

In this retrospective longitudinal study we examined which characteristics of 114 Dutch adolescents, aged 12–18 years, and their environment, predicted (un)successful completion of a non-residential alternative educational program for adolescents with complex problems, who are at risk for school drop-out or residential placement. The adolescents re...

Background Psychopathy has repeatedly been linked with delinquency and criminal recidivism of adults. With the increase of studies examining psychopathic traits in juveniles, it is important to also study this association in juveniles to increase the effectiveness of preventive interventions for juvenile delinquency. Purpose The primary aim of the...

Op 15 mei 2019 verdedigde Sharon Dijkstra haar proefschrift, getiteld Balancing the scale of responsibility: The effectiveness of family group conferencing in child welfare.

Most child welfare professionals use safety assessment instruments to determine a child’s immediate safety. Surprisingly, the content validity of these instruments has hardly been examined, even though this provides valuable and essential information on their quality. Therefore, the aim of this manuscript was to examine the content validity and usa...

This review aimed to compare child safety assessment instruments, which are used by child welfare professionals to determine whether a child is in immediate danger, and subsequently, whether immediate action is required to stop or prevent serious harm to the child. We searched electronic databases for articles discussing child safety assessment in...

De alliantie tussen gezinshulpverleners en gezinnen is één van de voorspellers van behandeluitkomsten in de hulpverlening aan jeugd en gezin. Wanneer meerdere gezinsleden betrokken zijn bij de behandeling spelen systemische aspecten van de alliantie, namelijk de ervaren veiligheid in het behandelsysteem en de gezamenlijke doelperceptie in het gezin...

This study provides an illustration of a research design complementary to randomized controlled trial to evaluate program effects, namely, participatory peer research (PPR). The PPR described in current study was carried out in a small sample (N = 10) of young adults with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) and severe behavioral problems. During t...

Today’s smartphones allow for a wide range of “big data” measurement, for example, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), whereby behaviours are repeatedly assessed within a person’s natural environment. With this type of data, we can better understand – and predict – risk for behavioral and health issues and opportunities for (self-monitoring) int...

In dit onderzoek zijn de praktische toepassing en effecten in kaart gebracht van Signs of Safety (SoS), een werkwijze in de jeugdhulpverlening gericht op het terugdringen van kindermishandeling. Dit is gedaan middels (1) een kwalitatief onderzoek waarvoor semigestructureerde interviews zijn afgenomen bij zeven SoS-werkers en (2) een kwantitatief on...

Purpose:This study evaluated the video-feedback intervention Basic Trust in families with internationally adoptive children aged 2–12 years. The intervention aims to reduce child attachment insecurity and behavior problems by enhancing mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity and mind-mindedness (parents’ capacity to hold in mind the mind of their child)....

This qualitative study explores the youth-initiated mentoring (YIM) approach for youth at risk for out-of-home placement. In this approach, a youth nominates someone from within their social network, and positions this person as a YIM to function as an ally for the youth and as a partner for parents and professional caregivers. Through interviews w...

Music interventions are used for stress reduction in a variety of settings because of the positive effects of music listening on both physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, and hormonal levels) and psychological stress experiences (e.g., restlessness, anxiety, and nervousness). To summarize the growing body of empirical research,...

Poor attention skills constitute a major problem for psychiatric patients with psychotic symptoms, and increase their chances of treatment drop-out. This study investigated possible benefits of musical attention control training (MACT). To examine the effect of MACT on attention skills of psychiatric patients with psychotic features a randomized co...

Objectives To examine (1) the long-term effects on reoffending of an individual SST for juvenile delinquents in The Netherlands and (2) whether effects differ by demographic and offense history characteristics. Methods The present study is a follow-up of a matched control study comparing post-treatment effects of N = 115 juveniles receiving Tools4...

The present study examines the relation between classroom climate in schools for secondary special education and students' perceived social exclusion. A total of 401 Dutch adolescents (70.3% males) with conduct problems, attending schools for special education, filled out questionnaires on classroom climate, problems in social information processin...

Mentoring programs, which pair youth with caring, non-parental adults with the goal of promoting positive youth development, are an increasingly popular strategy for early intervention with at-risk youth. However, important questions remain about the extent to which these interventions improve youth outcomes. The present study involved a comprehens...

Experiencing child sexual abuse (CSA) is a major public health problem with serious consequences for CSA victims. For effective assessment and (preventive) intervention, knowledge on risk factors and their effects is crucial. Here, the aim was to synthesize research on associations between (putative) risk factors and CSA victimization. In total, 76...

Several meta-analyses have examined the Central Eight risk factors for reoffending in the general forensic population. To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to focus exclusively on the predictive validity of risk factors for recidivism in forensic outpatients. A multilevel meta-analysis was conducted of studies in which static and dynam...

Objective Knowledge of risk factors is essential for successfully preventing child neglect. In this review, a meta-analysis of studies into risk factors for child neglect was carried out. Method 315 effect sizes were extracted from 36 primary studies and classified into 24 risk domains. An effect was estimated for each risk domain, after which dif...

It is widely recognized that young children in group care can benefit from a positive group climate. This is usually monitored from the caregiver’s perspective. This study describes the development and validation of the Group Climate Instrument for Children aged 4 to 8 years (GCIC 4–8), which aims to measure the quality of group climate, based on t...

Foster care is the preferred type of out-of-home placement for children and youth when they are not able to live with their own parents. However, placement instability, and its effect on children's behavioral well-being, remains a major issue in foster care. Ten multilevel meta-analyses were performed to examine factors that can affect instability...

The present study examined the effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing (FGC) in child welfare. Effects were operationalized in terms of child safety (child maltreatment, supervision order, and out-of-home placement), number of professional services used, parental empowerment, and social support in a 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. Furthermor...

In order to work on qualitatively good residential care it is important to monitor group climate and to act on clients’ feedback. The present study describes how two youth care organizations in the Netherlands implemented group climate monitoring instruments for children (GCIC 4–8 and 8–15) as part of the broader ‘You Matter!’ project (in which N =...

Implementation of program fidelity instruments and active learning methods is not easily and quickly accomplished. Further and ongoing stimulation is required. This study informs child and family care organizations to implement reflective practices, to monitor and stimulate program fidelity. It is important to purposefully integrate implementation...

Despite the assumed importance of the residential environment for treatment outcomes, there is a gap in research examining the relation between therapeutic alliance and group climate. Therefore, this prospective study examined the association between positive and negative group climate and child–mentor therapeutic alliance in residential youth care...

Interventies die kindermishandeling moeten voorkomen, hebben te weinig effect, blijkt uit onderzoek. Mogelijk komt dit doordat in de jeugdbescherming de ‘what works-principes’ onvoldoende worden toegepast. Om ook daar volgens deze principes te kunnen werken, zijn de ARIJ-Risk en ARIJ-Needs ontwikkeld.

Despite the wide implementation of sport-based crime prevention programs, there is a lack of empirical knowledge on the effectiveness of these interventions. This study evaluated a Dutch sport-based program in N = 368 youth at risk for juvenile delinquency. Intervention effects were tested in a quasi-experimental study, comparing the intervention g...

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between attachment and psychopathic traits. A systematic search of relevant articles yielded 12 studies (11 independent samples), containing 133 effect sizes based on in total 1876 participants. Results from a three-level random-effects meta-analysis demonstrated a small-to-medium significant...

A parental history of experiencing child maltreatment is an important risk factor in several etiological theories of child maltreatment. In the past, two reviews have been conducted on the available evidence for intergenerational continuity in child maltreatment, but were only qualitative in nature. Therefore, the present review aimed to provide a...

Treatment motivation in secure residential youth care is assumed to be a necessary condition for effective treatment, and is therefore a key element in the reduction of problem behavior and criminal recidivism. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT) three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness) are essential for treat...

Background: Criminal recidivism within two years after discharge from secure Forensic Psychiatric Hospitals (FPHs) is high, that is, over 36% for short-term judicial measures. It is assumed that relational care during treatment and continued voluntary contact and informal care after discharge, are factors that contribute to the reduction of crimina...

Background: This study aimed to examine the short- and long term (cost-) effectiveness of Family Group Conferencing (FGC) compared to care as usual (CAU) in terms of improved child safety, empowerment and social support. Methods: A subgroup of a larger randomized controlled trial, comprising 69 families in child welfare (experimental group: n =...

Background: Many former inmates recidivate, resulting in high costs for societies worldwide. Evidence based treatment practices may not work in prisons, due to detainees' lacking motivation, impaired well-being, and an unsafe group environment. One attempt to improve social group climate and well-being is the use of Prison-based Animal Programs (P...

Alliance has been shown to predict treatment outcome in family-involved treatment for youth problems in several studies. However, meta-analytic research on alliance in family-involved treatment is scarce, and to date, no meta-analytic study on the alliance–outcome association in this field has paid attention to moderating variables. We included 28...