I work as assistant professor at University of Twente, senior researcher at Fund Victim Support, and guest researcher at University of Groningen, Utrecht University (NL), Aarhus University (DK), University of New South Wales (AUS), and Bergen University (Norway). My research is focused on the definition, assessment, prediction, and treatment of disturbed grief in bereaved adults and children.
In projects among people who experienced losses because of a long-term disappearance, homicide, MH17 plane disaster, traffic accident, COVID-19, and Russian war in Ukraine I examine risk factors and treatment of distress. Findings of my work are disseminated through www.rouwbehandeling.nl. This website provides information to bereaved people about grief and it's treatment, which I co-developed with Fonds Slachtofferhulp.
At the moment my work is focused on assessing and treating grief in daily life using ecological momentary assessment/intervention.
I have authored more than 90 peer-reviewed journal articles. According to a bibliometric study from 2023 on the most productive/influential authors on the topic of prolonged grief disorder (https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2023.2196734) I am the third most productive academic in the world.
I have received 2 million euros (with >1 million euros as main applicant/principal investigator) funding for projects on grief, including a NWO Veni-grant in 2022 and a NWO XS grant in 2024. Funding agencies that financially supported my work are Fund Victim Support, Dutch Ministry of Justice and Safety, NWO, SASS, and university funding from Utrecht, Twente, and Rotterdam. In 2024, my work was awarded with the KNAW Early Career Award.
Co-promotor/Principal investigator/Daily supervisor
PhD Candidate Iris van Dijk (2020-2025)
PhD Candidate Lieke Nijborg (2022-2025)
PhD Candidate Deniz Ergun (2023-2027)
PhD Candidate Lyanne Reitsma (2020-2024; completed February 2025)
Co-promotor
PhD Candidate Xingjian Ruan (2023-2027)
PhD Candidate Ayala Licht (2025-2029)
Prinicipal Investigator/Daily supervisor
Postdoctoral researcher Liia Kivela (2025)
Postdoctoral researcher Justina PociĆ«naitÄ-Ott (2024-2025)
Research assistant Jip van Oostrum (2024-2025)
Research assistant Jinke Venema (2025)
Research assistant Deanne ten Hoor (2024-2025)
Internship student Alison Nieuwenhuijse (2025)
Junior researcher Maria-Luisa Rispa Hoyos (2022-2023)
PhD Committee member
PhD Sander Vos (2021)
Additional roles:
1. Chair Special Interest Group Traumatic Grief of the Dutch Society for Psychotrauma (2023-current)
2. Ad-hoc reviewer for several academic journals (see for overview: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/155722)
3. Editor for special issue on FAIR data practices in the field of psychoatruma in European Journal of Psychotraumatology (2024-current)
4. Editor for special issue on grief in Frontiers in Psychiatry (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/23195/consequences-and-aftercare-of-a-traumatic-loss-of-a-loved-one) (2021-2023)
5. Board member of the Dutch Society for Psychotrauma (see www.ntvp.nl). This is a society for therapists and researchers working with psychotrauma. It consists of 600+ members and ~14.000 LinkedIn followers. (2019-2023)
6. Finance/Research officer Bereavement Network Europe (community that connects European professionals working with bereaved people) (2020-2022)
7. Teacher in research practice at PPO (a post-master education for clinical psychologists) (2019-2023)
8. Editorial board of Impact Magazine (https://oorlog.arq.org/nl/impact-magazine-0) (2021-2024)
9. Review committee member Dutch Veterans Institute (Nederlands Veteranen Instituut) (2022)
Expertise
Psychology
- Grief
- Depression
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- Treatment
- Self-Report
- Research
- Systematic Literature Review
- Mental Health
Organisations
Publications
2025
2024
Research profiles
Affiliated study programs
Courses academic year 2024/2025
Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
Courses academic year 2023/2024
Current projects
The TALE study
TGI-CA Assessment after Loss in Europe
The primary aim of the TALE-study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Traumatic Grief Inventory - Clinical Administered (TGI-CA). The TGI-CA is an interview that is developed to assess pathological grief criteria (proposed for inclusion) in DSM-5 and ICD-11. During this study data will be collected among Dutch and German-speaking bereaved people by telephone interviews. Collaborators: drs. Minita Franzen (University of Groningen), dr. Carina Heeke (Freie UniversitÀt Berlin) en prof. dr. Paul A. Boelen (Utrecht University and Arq National Psychotrauma Centre).
Grief after the MH17 plane disaster
Aim: to examine the course of symptoms over time in people who lost one or multiple significant others due to the plane disaster with flight MH17. Among others latent class growth modeling and cross-lagged panel analyses are used to analyze the data. Furthermore, the effectiveness of a treatment for this group will be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. Collaborators: prof. dr. Jos de Keijser (University of Groningen), prof. dr. Paul A. Boelen (Utrecht University and Arq National Psychotrauma Centre), prof. dr. Geert E. Smid (Centre '45 and Arq National Psychotrauma Centre), and dr. Angela Nickerson (University of New South Wales, Australia).
Treatment of disturbed grief after the death of a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic
Grief during the pandemic
This PhD-project consists of two trials: 1) In a randomized controlled trial the effects of an online unguided grief-specific cognitive behavioral therapy (vs. waitlist controls) will be evaluated in people who lost a loved one during the pandemic. 2) In a controlled trial the effects of an online guided grief-specific cognitive behavioral therapy (vs. online unguided grief-specific cognitive behavioral therapy) will be evaluated in people who lost a loved one during the pandemic. Research team: Lyanne Reitsma (PhD candidate) Lonneke Lenferink (Principal Investigator/main applicant) Paul Boelen and Jos de Keijser (co-applicants)
CONNECT project
CONNECT
The aim of this project is to examine the course and determinants of psychotrauma complaints related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the general Dutch population. This is a longitudinal survey study among over 2000 Dutch people. This project is part of a pan-European study on the positive and negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic executed in eleven European countries. Collaborators: European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS), Nederlandstalige Vereniging voor Psychotrauma (NtVP), prof. dr. Trudy Mooren (Utrecht University, Centre '45), drs. Suzan Soydas (Utrecht University), dr. Joanne Mouthaan (Leiden University), drs Marloes Eidhof (Radboud University, Reinier van Arkel), dr. Marie-José van Hoof (Leiden University) en dr. Simon Groen (GGZ Drenthe)
The Aarhus Bereavement Study
TABstudy
The Aarhus Bereavement Study (TABstudy) is an ongoing multi-wave, registry-based cohort study, examining grief reactions in bereaved adults led by associate prof. Maja O'Connor at Aarhus University (Denmark). Aarhus University granted a research visit in fall 2022 so I could collaborate on this project by analyzing data among bereaved families using structural equation modelling.
TrafVic
Aim: to identify risk factor for developing psychological complaints among people who lost a significant other due to a traffic accident. In addition, the effectiveness of an online treatment for reducing psychopathology levels will be evaluated. Collaborators: prof. dr. Jos de Keijser (University of Groningen), prof. dr. Paul A. Boelen (Utrecht University and Arq National Psychotrauma Centre), prof. dr. Geert E. Smid (Centre '45 and Arq National Psychotrauma Centre), and dr. Maarten Eisma (University of Groningen)
The therapeutic effects of "GriefHelp"
Aim: to evaluate the effectiviness of a psychological intervention for reducing prolonged grief symptoms in minors who lost a significant other. Collaborators: prof. dr. Paul A. Boelen (Utrecht University and Arq National Psychotrauma Centre) and dr. Mariken Spuij (Utrecht University)
Measurements Archive of Reactions to Bereavement from Longitudinal European Studies (MARBLES) project
Aim: to develop an international data-archive for secundary analyses on Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) longitudinal (non-intervention) grief data in adults. Collaborators: prof. dr. Paul A Boelen (Utrecht University and ARQ national psychotrauma centre) and Nancy Kassam-Adams (Childrenâs Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA)
Toward personalized bereavement care: Examining individual differences in response to grief treatment
Prolonged grief disorder is a debilitating condition, affecting 10% of bereaved people. To date, studies evaluating treatments for prolonged grief have focused on symptom change on a group-level, ignoring individual variability in grief-responses. Personalized prolonged grief treatment may enhance treatment outcomes. This project contributes in three ways to personalized treatment for prolonged grief, by: (i) improving the understanding of differences in grief-trajectories in response to treatment for prolonged grief using a novel FAIR data-archive; (ii) examining grief in daily life; (iii) offering dynamic support in daily life to treat prolonged grief. 2022-2026 Veni-grant NWO
TrafVic Kids
The aims of this PhD-project (2020-2024) are to: 1) develop and validate a clinical interview to assess prolonged grief disorder (PGD) symptoms in children and 2) to develop and evaluate a online treatment for PGD in children bereaved by a traffic accident. PhD-student is Iris van Dijk Promotores: prof. dr. Paul Boelen and prof. dr. Jos de Keijser Co-promotores and daily supervisor: dr. Lonneke Lenferink
Finished projects
In the press
Media outlet highlights
Original title [English title]
Link
Date (day/month/year)
- Interview Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad
Zoektocht naar vermiste SamuĂ«l gestaakt: âWe moeten nu accepteren dat hij niet gevonden wordtâ [The search for SamuĂ«l discontinued: âWe now need to accept that he will not be foundâ]
https://www.ad.nl/amersfoort/zoektocht-naar-vermiste-samuel-gestaakt-we-moeten-nu-accepteren-dat-hij-niet-gevonden-wordt~abf93ac13/
28/9/2021 - Interview professional Dutch magazine Vakblad Uitvaart
Grotere kans op rouwstoornis door corona [Increased risk of a grief disorder due to corona]
https://uitvaartmedia.com/webshop-vakbladuitvaart/
01/12/2020 - Interview Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad
Hoe rouw je in tijden van corona? [How to grieve in times of COVID?]
https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/hoe-rouw-je-in-tijden-van-corona-ik-heb-het-afscheid-in-kleine-kring-juist-als-prettig-ervaren~a0d5bb43/
28/10/2020 - Blog Nederlandstalige Vereniging voor Psychotrauma
Yalom: âGet in therapy; go through your own issues!â
https://www.ntvp.nl/yalom-get-in-therapy-go-through-your-own-issues/?mc_cid=0da9d4e3b2&mc_eid=dce7448dc8
23/10/2020 - Interview Dutch national radio Radio1
Radio 1: Online rouwen tijdens pandemie [Grieving online during pandemic]
https://www.nporadio1.nl/fris/onderwerpen/66163-2020-10-11-online-rouwen-om-coronadoden-kan-dat-wel
11/10/2020 - Dutch national t.v. Nieuwsuur
Hoe is het om door corona nooit echt afscheid te kunnen nemen van je geliefde [What is it like to never really say goodbye to your loved one because of corona?]
https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/video/2350976-hoe-is-het-om-door-corona-nooit-echt-afscheid-te-kunnen-nemen-van-je-geliefde.html
04/10/2020 - Online Dutch article published by Fund Victim Support
Afscheid en rouw in tijden van corona [Farewell and grief in COVID-19 times]
https://slachtofferwijzer.nl/nieuws/afscheid-en-rouw-in-tijden-van-corona/
30/03/2020 - Live-interview Dutch national radio Radio1
Impact op achterblijvers van vermiste is enorm [impact on those left behind after a disappearance is huge]
https://www.nporadio1.nl/langs-de-lijn-en-omstreken/onderwerpen/526611-impact-op-achterblijvers-van-vermiste-is-enorm
22/01/2020 - Interview Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad
Hierdoor maakt de vermissing van Dirk Dalebout meer los dan andere zaken [This is why the disappearance of Dirk Dalebout results in relatively more reactions than other cases]
https://www.ad.nl/dordrecht/hierdoor-maakt-de-vermissing-van-dirk-dalebout-meer-los-dan-andere-zaken~acdd2aa7/?referrer=https://www.google.com/
11/08/2019 - Interview Dutch national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad
Bijna 300 vermiste Nederlanders: het kan ook jou overkomen [Nearly 300 missing Dutch people: it could also happen to you
https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/bijna-300-vermiste-nederlanders-het-kan-ook-jou-overkomen~a45b335a/
24/02/2019 - Interview Dutch national newspaper Volkskrant Magazine
"Ik zou zo graag willen horen uw kind is dood" [âI would like to hear your child is deadâ]
https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2019/ik-zou-zo-graag-willen-horen-uw-kind-is-dood/
16/02/2019 - Interview Dutch professional magazine "de Psycholoog"
Tussen hoop en vrees [In limbo]
https://www.tijdschriftdepsycholoog.nl/artikelen/tussen-hoop-en-vrees/
05/10/2018 - Interview Dutch national newspaper NRC Handelsblad
"Hardnekkige rouw om een vermiste" [Disturbing grief after someone is missing]
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2018/06/18/hardnekkige-rouw-om-een-vermiste-a1606943
18/06/2018 - Online interview for Dutch national news NOS
Mensen die hoop houden na de vermissing van een dierbare hebben de meeste klachten [People who maintain hope after the disappearance of loved one have the highest distress]
https://nos.nl/op3/artikel/2196589-mensen-die-hoop-houden-na-de-vermissing-van-een-dierbare-hebben-de-meeste-klachten.html
06/10/2017 - Interview regional Dutch newspaper âde Stentorâ
Achterblijvers van vermisten in therapie [Relatives of missing people in treatment]
www.destentor.nl/nieuws/achterblijvers-van-vermisten-in-therapie~a476fb96/
06/06/2016 - Live regional Dutch television interview Omroep Brabant
88 Brabanders langdurig vermist [88 people from the region Brabant are long-term missing]
https://youtu.be/kpWTcZs8P1E
04/01/2015
Address
University of Twente
Capitool 15 (building no. 78), room 246
Capitool 15
7521 PL Enschede
Netherlands
University of Twente
Capitool 15 246
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
Netherlands
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