Hanneke Scholten, Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology at Erasmus MC, is developing a further adaptation of the Grow It! app. The project is supported by the Erasmus Trustfonds and the eHealth Junior consortium, funded by the Nationale Wetenschapsagenda. Grow It! was originally developed for adolescents with a chronic condition to strengthen emotional awareness and adaptive coping skills. The app is now being further developed specifically for parents of children with a chronic illness.
Co-creating the app
Children with a chronic condition are at increased risk of developing mental health problems. What is often less visible, however, is that their parents also frequently experience stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. “How parents respond to their child’s illness is closely related to how both they and their child adapt psychologically over time,” explains Hanneke Scholten. “That is precisely why early support is essential.” To provide better support for parents, she is now developing a parent version of the Grow It! app.
“Before we start designing, we first want to gain a thorough understanding of what parents need,” says Hanneke. “We are conducting interviews with parents and healthcare professionals. Their experiences and perspectives form the starting point for the new app.” These insights will be translated into an initial design, which the team will then test and refine together with a parent advisory board.
About the Grow It! app
The Grow It! app was developed by child and adolescent psychiatrist Manon
Hillegers of Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital and developmental psychologist Loes Keijsers of Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the app, adolescents report several times a day how they are feeling and what they are doing. They also complete challenges based on principles of cognitive
behavioural therapy. Grow It! is one of the few scientifically validated apps of its kind and is currently being further developed within the eHealth Junior consortium for implementation in practice. Teachers and professionals who would like to explore how the Grow It! app works can request a trial code via the website.