News

On this page you will find an overview of scientific publications resulting from the LIKE project, we will discuss the activities we have carried out and we will share our experiences with this project.

Updates

Register now for the LIKE festival on Oct. 10

After five years of LIKE research, we are sharing our experiences by collaborating together with you.

For anyone who wants to make a difference: researchers, policy officers, administrators, professionals (education, sports, welfare, care).

Learn how to go from systemsthinking to systemsdoing. Learn how to get target groups, such as young people, to participate. And much more!

Sign up now. The number of places is limited.

More information about the program can be found here.

 

Publication – Analysis youth health care Amsterdam

March 2023

The LIKE project has published a new analysis.
Analysis: To what extent does the care provided by Youth Health Care Amsterdam meet the standards for diversity-responsive care?

Download the publication here.

Inspirational Guide from the Alexander Foundation

May 2022

The Alexander Foundation, a LIKE partner, has published an inspiration guide for co-creation. This guide is for anyone who wants to work with children and young people to work together on a healthy lifestyle through co-creation. Policymakers from municipalities, researchers, youth workers, teachers: this guide is for you!

Download the guide here .

Network: Healthy living in a healthy environment

January 2022

LIKE has good news! We have received a grant from the Hartstichting to set up a network together with two other healthy living consortia (Supreme Nudge and Benefit). In this way we can further disseminate the knowledge from our projects. For more information, click here .

New podcast episode about systems thinking

November 2021

LIKE researcher Dr. Wilma Waterlander talks about systems thinking on the Lifestyle Lab podcast.

In the episode, she talks about “the feasibility and effectiveness of price measures on food, the Amsterdam LIKE project carried out in collaboration with the Amsterdam Approach to Healthy Weight (AAGG) and the tension between science and politics.”

Listen here!

On-going actions

October 2021

The implementation of the LIKE approach is in full swing. Over the past year, we have devised and implemented many actions together with the youth, from a sports scavenger hunt to a podcast about the unhealthy food environment. The youth indicated that the actions fit well with their environment, and help them to develop healthier behavior. At the moment we are looking at how these actions can be embedded within the municipality. In addition, a number of actions have been devised that are somewhat more complex. These actions are led by LIKE researchers, but take place in cooperation with the municipality, the young people and stakeholders from the neighborhood. Examples are the participation of young people in the design of an exercise-friendly public space, and workshops with supermarkets about a healthier food offer.

In addition to the further implementation of the LIKE approach, in the coming year we will focus on the process and effect evaluation. With this we try to get answers to the question: does our approach really make a difference for the young people in Amsterdam East?

! Don’t forget to listen to the podcast episodes made through LIKE’s own PAR-groups ! Listen here.

The impact of corona on LIKE

September 2021

Unfortunately, due to the corona crisis, we have not been able to do everything we planned to do over the past year. The children and youth we work with were not in school. We were also unable to hold meetings in the neighborhood. In addition, many organizations we work with were busy with things that had to be arranged as a result of the crisis, such as providing good information about coronation measures. Now that the measures have been eased, we can start up our activities in the district again!

Activities and experiences

Meredith, PhD student, 2019

I organized a workshop on sleeping for health ambassadors in Amsterdam-East. This workshop was part of the ‘Op GezondeTour’ plus training. The workshop consisted of 3 meetings. I first discussed with the health ambassadors what they would like to learn. We then made a timeline together in which they had to fill in their activities for each family member from dinner until bedtime. We discussed this timeline and together we looked at the most important stumbling points when it comes to sleeping habits within the family. One of the main challenges turned out to be the kids’ screen use and setting rules. We brainstormed and wrote down tips for each other on the topic. In the second meeting, we invited a colleague from the Parent and Child Team to provide more information and practical tips about setting rules. In the last meeting we learned more about the importance of sleep and how to pass this information on to the kids.

Another fun activity was the photography project I did with moms. The mothers were first instructed to take pictures of their daily lives. We then discussed the content of these photos and used them as a starting point to talk about a healthy lifestyle. This activity gave me new leads for my research, so this was not only fun but also very valuable!

What I remember most about these activities is the involvement of the parents in the neighborhood. It was very special to see how everyone is passionate and enthusiastic about a healthy living environment for their children and themselves.
During the Sarphati symposium, Emma and I presented a poster about our project.
The poster can be found here .

Helga, PhD student, 2020

Over the past two school years (2018-2020), we have conducted research together with young people from Amsterdam East into how young people sleep, eat and exercise. Weekly participatory meetings were held with young people from two primary and two secondary schools. The young people themselves conducted research into their own lifestyle behaviors (nutrition, sleeping and exercise) and that of their peers. In addition, young people conducted research into why young people eat and drink unhealthy, sleep too little or exercise and what can be done to improve this. They also learned how to set up, conduct and analyze a study. Now it’s time for ACTION! In recent years, young people have already taken a step towards devising and developing actions to improve the lifestyle behavior of young people. In the coming school year, together with the young people, we will fully focus on devising and developing actions based on all information from their surveys. Together with the students, we will consider small-scale actions, such as making the food available in the school cafeteria healthier, and large-scale actions, such as improving the food supply in the neighbourhood. We are looking forward to working with this group again after the summer holidays!

At the beginning of July 2020, the children of the two primary schools that took part in the participatory meetings (i.e. the health teams) had a goodbye picnic in the Oosterpark. Group supervisor and researcher Rabab Chrifou organized the picnic together with co-supervisor and intern Vincent Wesdorp. At 12:00 the first group went for a picnic. It rained a bit then, but that didn’t stop the kids from going to the park. The second picnic was held at 3:00 PM. This group was a bit more lucky with the weather, because the sun was shining! Healthy snacks and drinks were offered during the picnic. We also played a game and the kids could play in the park. To finish, the supervisors and the children briefly evaluated the year. The kids enjoyed the meetings and were eager to learn more about healthy living. All kids received a certificate of participation stating which activities they had done in the past year. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to a number of kids who are going to secondary school next year. Fortunately, they said that they want to keep in touch with us. On to next year!