"Young people, adult worries": RCT of an internet-based self-support method "Feel the ViBe" for children, adolescents and young adults exposed to family violence, a study protocol

Contains fulltext : 116440.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Violence in families affects children. Exposure to violence is seen as child abuse. Figures show that about one third of children exposed to violence become victim or perpetrator in their adult life: known as intergenerational transmission. Violence also affects sexual and reproductive health. To prevent problems in adult life, children need help and support. However, while trying to protect their parents, children often do not seek help, or perceive the threshold as too high. Since almost all children of the current generation have access to the internet, an online intervention will make help better available for this target group. In 2011, an internet-based self-support method for children, adolescents and young adults exposed to family violence was developed in the Netherlands: "Feel the ViBe". The intervention was developed in close collaboration with the target group. This article describes the protocol of the RCT to study the effectiveness of this intervention. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a randomized controlled trial using the method of minimization to randomize the participants in two parallel groups with a 1:1 allocation ratio, being an intervention group, having access to "Feel the ViBe" and usual care (UC), and a control group, having access to minimally enhanced usual care (mEUC) followed by access to the intervention after twelve weeks. Outcomes are measured with questionnaires on PTSD symptoms, mental health and sexual and reproductive health. Routine Outcome Measurement (ROM) will be used to measure a direct effect of participating in the intervention. Data from a web evaluation questionnaire (WEQ), user statistics and qualitative analysis of online data will be used to support the findings. To compare results Cohen's d effect sizes will be used. DISCUSSION: A RCT and process evaluation will test effectiveness and provide information of how the effects can be explained, how the intervention meets the expectation of participants and which possible barriers and facilitators for implementation exist. A qualitative analysis of the data will add information to interpret the quantitative data. This makes "Feel the ViBe" unique in its field. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Netherlands National Trial Register (NTR), trial ID NTR3692.11 p

ConservePlants : an integrated approach to conservation of threatened plants for the 21st century

Even though plants represent an essential part of our lives offering exploitational, supporting and cultural services, we know very little about the biology of the rarest and most threatened plant species, and even less about their conservation status. Rapid changes in the environment and climate, today more pronounced than ever, affect their fitness and distribution causing rapid species declines, sometimes even before they had been discovered. Despite the high goals set by conservationists to protect native plants from further degradation and extinction, the initiatives for the conservation of threatened species in Europe are scattered and have not yielded the desired results. The main aim of this Action is to improve plant conservation in Europe through the establishment of a network of scientists and other stakeholders who deal with different aspects of plant conservation, from plant taxonomy, ecology, conservation genetics, conservation physiology and reproductive biology to protected area's managers, not forgetting social scientists, who are crucial when dealing with the general public.peer-reviewe