PhD position: Parental Cancer and the Impact on Child Development and Well-being

5 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Utrecht University

Research Field

Cultural studies

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Netherlands

Application Deadline

24 Mar 2024 - 22:59 (UTC)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Not Applicable

Hours Per Week

36.0

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

The Department of Clinical Psychology has a job opening for PhD candidate on the project 'When Lightning Strikes - Parental Cancer and the Impact on Child Development and Wellbeing'.

Your job
Parents diagnosed with cancer not only have to cope with stress and anxiety around the illness itself, but also with the potential impact on their children. Children confronted with parental cancer are at increased risk for symptoms of immediate and long-term psychopathology. Changes in parental identity, child identity and the parent-child relationship are potential mechanisms behind this association. There is an urgent need to increase understanding of these mechanisms.

By further understanding of the underlying mechanisms that increase risk of psychopathology, tools can be developed to support families affected by cancer. Previous support programmes tend to focus either on the ill parent or their children (restricting the intervention to a specific age-group). There are no interventions yet that are equally targeting both parents (also the partner of the diagnosed parent) and children. Also, in the vast majority of studies, the affected parent is the mother. Easy to implement tools that can help facilitate communication between parents and children and help with the renegotiation of identity and roles within families are therefore urgently needed.

In this project, you will employ a number of different methodologies including meta-analysis, longitudinal multilevel data analysis, qualitative analyses, and a randomised control trial. The aims of the PhD project are:

to understand the impact of a cancer diagnosis on (the renegotiation of) parental identity;

to study the association between parents’ identity renegotiation following diagnosis, parental distress symptomatology and subsequent child (identity) development and well-being;

to develop a psychoeducational preventive intervention which targets parent-child relationship quality by supporting parents in preserving the parental role and by facilitating parent-child communication;

to test the effectiveness of the intervention in preventing parental distress, enhancing parent-child relationship quality (including communication), and in fostering children’s wellbeing in a randomised controlled trial.

In this project, you will be expected to collaborate with professional organisations that support people with cancer, such as the Ingeborg Douwes Centre . Your work will also include 10% teaching tasks, with the possibility to extend this to 20%.

Requirements
Specific Requirements

We would love to hear from you, if:

• You have an (almost finished) (Research) Master’s degree in the field of developmental or clinical psychology, pedagogics, or a related field.
• You have excellent research and writing skills.
• You have well-developed analytical skills and you are preferably acquainted with Mplus and/or R.
• You have good social skills and affinity with data collection.
• You have excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• You have a good command of the Dutch language or are willing to learn Dutch. This is a requirement for the data collection. We offer free Dutch language courses to help you learn.
• You are an active team member with good communication skills.

Your suitability is ideally exemplified, if:

• You have worked with children and/or families.
• You have experience with performing interviews and/or qualitative data analysis.
• You are fluent in Dutch.

Additional Information
Benefits

We offer:

• a position for one year, with an extension to a total of four years upon successful assessment;
• a working week of 28 hours and a gross monthly salary between €2,770 and €3,539 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU);
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development , leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities , as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University .

Selection process

As Utrecht University, we want to be a home for everyone. We value staff with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and identities, including cultural, religious or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. We strive to create a safe and inclusive environment in which everyone can flourish and contribute.

To apply, please send your curriculum vitae, including a letter of motivation, via the ‘apply now’ button.

Our preferred start date is 1 September 2024.

Additional comments

For more information about this position, please contact Dr Marjolein Missler at [email protected] or Dr Lonneke van Tuijl at [email protected] .

Please note that international candidates that need a visa/work permit for the Netherlands require at least four months processing time after selection and acceptance. Our International Service Desk (ISD) can answer your questions about living in the Netherlands as international staff . Finding appropriate housing in or near Utrecht is your own responsibility, but the ISD may be able to advise you therewith. In case of general questions about working and living in The Netherlands, please consult the Dutch Mobility Portal.

Candidates for this vacancy will be recruited by Utrecht University.

Website for additional job details

https://www.academictransfer.com/338538/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Universiteit Utrecht

Country

Netherlands

City

Utrecht

Postal Code

3584CS

Street

Heidelberglaan 1

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.academictransfer.com/en/338538/phd-position-parental-cancer-and-the…

Contact

City

Utrecht

Website

http://www.uu.nl/

Street

Domplein 29

Postal Code

3512 JE

STATUS: EXPIRED