Two new YELS-funded projects to start up!

The fifth round of applications for our funding and support has ended. We are very happy to announce that we are able to grant financial support to two new projects that both focus on how education empowers young people. In this post, you will learn more about their outline and the researchers behind them.

1. Immune Patrol: In-school evaluation of a game-based educational tool on immunity and vaccination in early adolescents

Can game-based learning help to improve and strenghten health literacy and vaccine confidence among youth? This study will evaluate Immune Patrol, a digital educational game that teaches health literacy concepts, such as the immune system, disease transmission, herd immunity, vaccine development, and critical source evaluation.

Over the past decade, vaccine uptake in the Netherlands has declined, with coverage for several childhood vaccinations falling below thresholds required for prevention of disease outbreaks. In Utrecht Overvecht, for example, the percentage of fully vaccinated 2-year-olds dropped from 87.4% in 2019 to 69.4% in 2023. Despite this public health concern, immunization and health literacy are still not standard components of primary school health education, even though health literacy is positively associated with vaccination intention. Schools represent a key environment for addressing this gap, as schools provide early, equitable access to knowledge across diverse populations and help shape informed decision-making skills from a young age.

Game-based education tool ‘Immune Patrol’

Immune Patrol is a game-based digital education tool developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. It targets children aged 10–12 and teaches important concepts such as the immune system, disease transmission, herd immunity, vaccine development, and critical source evaluation.

Preliminary pilot data from Belgium are promising: the proportion of children with at least moderate knowledge of infectious diseases and immunization increased from 25.7% to 80.5% after playing the game (unpublished). To date, Immune Patrol has not been evaluated in the Dutch educational setting. Therefore, this study aims to study the feasibility of implementing Immune Patrol in the Dutch context as well as its educational impact, including motivation, health literacy, and attitudes towards vaccination.

Findings will inform education and public health strategies, contributing to both scientific insight on game-based learning and societal goals of improving health literacy and vaccine confidence among youth.

Applicants

• Lieke de Vrankrijker (UMCU / WKZ, Pediatric Infectious Diseases);
• Jonne Terstappen (UMCU / WKZ, Pediatric Infectious Diseases);
• Sarah Hak (UMCU / WKZ, Pediatric Infectious Diseases);
• Karin Fikkers (Humanities, Languages, Literature and Communication);
• Jacqueline Evers-Vermeul (Humanities, Languages, Literature and Communication);
• Ewa Miedzobrodzka (Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education & Pedagogy);
• Vincent Hoogerheide (Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education & Pedagogy).

2. Enhancing the effectiveness of a school-based prosocial behavior intervention for primary school students: Developing training tools to improve implementation

What if the success of school-based interventions depends not what we teach—but on how faithfully we implement the programme?

The potential success of school-based intervention programmes largely depends on how well the programme is implemented or carried out, also called programme fidelity. However, most evaluation studies focus solely on outcomes and overlook fidelity. To truly maximize intervention impact, knowledge is needed on which factors and mechanisms contribute to programme fidelity. This project aims to identify which factors determine programme fidelity and integrate these insights into practical tools and materials that support schools in achieving and sustaining fidelity.

This project focuses on a school-based intervention designed to foster prosocial classroom climates by strengthening primary school students’ intrinsic motivation through the fulfillment of basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Our recent cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated that the programme’s effectiveness was closely tied to fidelity.

Leveraging our unique, rich, and multi-method data and our ongoing collaboration with our societal partner with a large scope, we will generate tools for research and practice to enhance the potential of school-based interventions to stimulate youths’ development and wellbeing. Both within this specific programme, but also generalizing to other school-based programmes.

Applicants

• Amanda van Loon (Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education and Pedagogy, Clinical Child and Family Studies);
• Tessa Kaufman (Social and Behavioral Sciences, Education and Pedagogy, Youth and Family).