PhD defence L.T. (Lysbert) Zeinstra

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation: 

Children growing up in families affected by long-term stress, trauma, and instability are at increased risk of emotional, behavioral, and relational problems. Their parents often carry unresolved traumatic experiences of their own, which can make it challenging to provide the emotional safety children need. Existing interventions tend to focus on either the child or the parent in isolation, leaving the interaction between trauma, parenting, and family functioning insufficiently addressed.

This dissertation evaluates the KINGS program, an intensive six- to eight-week inpatient family treatment for children with severe behavioral problems and their parents, many of whom have experienced chronic interpersonal trauma such as domestic violence, neglect, or abuse. In KINGS, parents and children live together in a structured therapeutic setting where they work on trauma processing, emotion regulation, parenting skills, and strengthening their relationship.

The studies in this dissertation show that families can make meaningful progress in such an intensive, family-focused setting. Parents and children report reductions in trauma-related symptoms, child emotional and behavioral problems, parenting stress, and improvements in family functioning during and after treatment. On average, these improvements were maintained up to six months after treatment, although gains in parenting stress and family functioning partly diminished over time.

Together, these findings suggest that an integrated, whole-family approach like KINGS can offer meaningful benefits for families in which previous interventions have had limited results. They highlight the value of addressing trauma histories and intergenerational patterns within the family system, while also pointing to the need for coordinated follow-up care to sustain gains after families return home.