The programme group Parenting, Child Care and Development studies how parents and other educators affect children's development, well-being and health. The emphasis is on the child's social, emotional and cognitive development and prevention of problems in these areas.

Central elements in the research activities of all programme group members are: attachment, sensitive caregiving, and prevention and intervention.

The programme group Parenting, Child Care and Development carries out general courses within the field of Education and Child Studies and specialised courses within the field of Child and Family Science.

The programme group Parenting, Child Care and Development is located in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Leiden University near Central Station.

This research delves into the unique cultural approach of the Tenggerese people, an Indigenous community in East Java, Indonesia, regarding elderly care. It focuses on their traditional practices of bakti (‘filial piety’) and sayan (‘mutual aid’), deeply ingrained in the community's lifestyle and va…

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Discover the origins and organization of palliative care in various institutions through Natashe Lemos Dekker's 2023 article in The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Explore the connection between palliative care and a

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Sexuality is a fundamental part of being human. Yet, for many people with disabilities, it remains overlooked, unsupported, and surrounded by stigma. NWO-VIDI Sex, Care & Robots confronts that long-standing neglect with a project that envisions an urgent yet straightforward future: one in which sexual…

The article 'Standardising care of the dying: An ethnographic analysis of the Liverpool Care Pathway in England and the Netherlands' by Erica Borgstrom and Natashe Lemos Dekker is published in Sociology of Health & Illness.

This project investigates the globalization and cultural mediation of palliative care practices, policies and discourses.

In this article, Samuels elaborates the concept of narrative navigation to analyze the subjective and intersubjective ways in which people struggle through experiences of illness by constructing multiple, ambiguous and non-linear narratives that may continuously change, as they reposition themselves…

In this study the central question to be answered is whether children are able to participate in decisions and at which moments these decisions are taken in the youth care trajectory.

The DASPO-group for data analysis and survival in personalized sarcoma at the Mathematical Institute has developed an app that provides personalised predictions for patients suffering from soft tissue sarcomas. Due to the aggressive nature of such tumors, the prognosis for such patients is poor, even…

In the Dutch healthcare system, only MHC psychologists (GZ-psychologen) are licensed to practice psychology unsupervised.

Through a lens that examines the intersection of ageing, gender, class, and migration, this project addresses the 'care deficit' in European countries and the employment of migrant women from Latin America to fill this deficit.

Three temporary agency workers in Dutch youth care must appear in court next week. Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Children and the Law, spoke to 'de Volkskrant’ newspaper about how this situation arose. 'Young people need well-trained, permanent supervisors.'

The Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies research group conducts innovative high-quality research aiming to gain knowledge about deviant developmental trajectories of vulnerable children, adolescents, and families, about how to prevent problematic development and how to intervene when necessary.

Is blended care a feasible and effective treatment method for social anxiety in adolescence?

Treatment and care for cancer patients is becoming increasingly advanced. For example, surgeons can now perform operations with much greater precision, and therapeutic vaccines are being developed to prompt the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. Work is also being done on better early diagnostics,…

The focus of health care is rapidly changing. The need for maximum gains with minimal input requires tailored health care strategies and an ever more explicit evaluation of health benefits for the patient.

Health is a wonderful gift, both for humans and for society. If we are able to prevent both physical and mental illnesses, we can spare a lot of suffering and fight rising health costs. Social scientists and physicians in Leiden are working closely together to conduct research on the human mental, behavioural…

The program group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies of the Institute of Education and Child Studies deals with the developmental processes of vulnerable children, young people and families.

PhD defence

This project investigates ethnographically how patients, their relatives, and healthcare professionals in the Netherlands make decisions about end-of-life care. We study the new dilemmas around what constitutes

Within the bachelor's program of Education and Child Studies, we include the minor Kindermishandeling en Verwaarlozing: een levensloopperspectief and several other courses.

The program group Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies is located in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University near Central Station.

The research project addresses the question how complaints in the voluntary youth care system are dealt with on the municipal level and what role (municipal) Children’s Ombudspersons play in this context, through qualitative research methods.

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In the Netherlands, as elsewhere in the world, many patients who are in a palliative care trajectory prefer not to receive full or explicit medical information. This is more often the case for patients with ethnic or cultural minority backgrounds. As open-information provision is the norm, non-disclosure…

Which educational and child welfare interventions offer optimal opportunities for positive development to children with severe behavioral and emotional disorders.

Through a lens that examines the intersection of ageing, gender, class, and migration, this project addresses the “care deficit” in European countries and the employment of migrant women from Latin America to fill this deficit.

What are the manifestations, antecedents and consequences of the cognitive uncertainty experiences of social care professionals?

The Liverpool care pathway for the dying patient (LCP) is a multidisciplinary tool developed for the dying phase for use in palliative care settings. The literature reports divergent experiences with its application in a nursing home setting related to its implementation and staff competencies. The…

On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, Professor Elisheva Baumgarten (Hebrew University) delivered a Keynote Lecture at the Leiden Jewish Studies Network Conference “Care and the Jewish Experience".

Bringing Dominican indigenous collections back to the community

Biological and behavioural measurements of parent-child interactions.