Biography
Dr. Paul Kocken is Associate Professor Behavior Change at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He coordinates the courses Health Psychology & Behavior Change and Professional Skills in the master’s track Health Psychology. His main areas of expertise are methods of health behavior change and epidemiology, focusing primarily on behavior change research and the application of scientific research methods in practice settings.
His background is in public health. He previously worked as research scientist in health and youth care practice at the Municipal Health Service GGD Rotterdam and Dutch center for innovation and applied research TNO. His research and teaching activities are in the field of public health consequences of unhealthy behaviors and the development and assessment of effective behavior change interventions and policies. He uses scientific research methods in practice settings to accelerate behavior change and reduce health disparities.
His main research interests are:
- Systematic development of educational, nudging and systems interventions, including digital solutions, to change health behaviors.
- Epidemiology of health problems and health services research.
- Application of behavioral insights for policy making and equity.
- Societal transitions and behaviour change.
- Digital decision support.
His projects are with many stakeholders, such as municipalities, citizens, care organizations and universities. Currently, he closely works together with policy makers and researchers from Rotterdam Municipality and is academic manager of the collaborative expert center behavioral research and development Healthy’R. He is involved in two nation wide sectorplans started by Social Scienses and Humanities (SSH), 1) Societal transitions and behaviour change, 2) The EUR programme "Influence of digitalization on work, prosperity and entrepreneurship". He is member of the Editorial board of Dutch journal health sciences TSG, Tijdschrift voor Gezondheidswetenschappen, that recently reached its 100 years volume.
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- kocken@essb.eur.nl
More information
Work
- Paul L. Kocken & Noortje M. Pannebakker (2025) - Factors affecting interorganizational learning networks in youth care services: What do we know and what are the research gaps? - Children and Youth Services Review, 173 - doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108314 - [link]
- Malin H.L. Hollaar, Bram Kemmere, Paul L. Kocken & Semiha Denktaş (2025) - Resilience-based interventions in the public sector workplace: a systematic review - BMC Public Health, 25 - doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-21177-2 - [link]
- Paul Kocken, Meinou H.C. Theunissen, Janine Bezem, Arjan Huizing, Kitty C. B. P. van der Ploeg, Caren I. Lanting & Olivier A. Blanson Henkemans (2025) - Flexibilisering in de jeugdgezondheidszorg: passende zorg voor alle kinderen - Tijdschrift voor Gezondheidswetenschappen, 103, 1-9 - doi: 10.1007/s12508-024-00448-8
- Jelena Kollmann, Shakib Sana, Tessa Magnée, Sarah Boer, Inge Merkelbach, Paul L. Kocken & Semiha Denktas (2024) - Patients' and professionals' experiences with remote care during COVID-19: A qualitative study in general practices in low-income neighborhoods - Primary Health Care Research and Development, 25 - doi: 10.1017/S1463423624000240 - [link]
- Noortje M. Pannebakker, Sijmen A. Reijneveld, Mattijs E. Numans & Paul L. Kocken (2024) - Parents' expected barriers to psychosocial care for children with complex problems - Child and Family Social Work, 29 (2), 386-397 - doi: 10.1111/cfs.13093 - [link]
- Marion C.E. van de Sande, Minne Fekkes, René F.W. Diekstra, Carolien Gravesteijn, Paul L. Kocken & Ria Reis (2024) - Low-achieving adolescent students' perspectives on their interactions with classmates. An exploratory study to inform the implementation of a social emotional learning program in prevocational education - Children and Youth Services Review, 156 - doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107263 - [link]
- Marion Cornelia van de Sande, Esther Pars-Van Weeterloo, Rene F.W. Diekstra, Carolien Gravesteijn, Paul L. Kocken, Ria Reis & Minne Fekkes (2024) - Parents’ perspectives on adolescent social emotional learning: an explorative qualitative study amongst parents of students in prevocational secondary education - Health Education, 124 (1-2), 1-19 - doi: 10.1108/HE-07-2023-0074 - [link]
- Marion Cornelia Van De Sande, Paul Leonardus Kocken, Rene Folquinus Diekstra, Ria Reis, Carolien Gravesteijn & Minne Fekkes (2023) - What are the most essential social-emotional skills?: Relationships between adolescents’ social-emotional skills and psychosocial health variables: an explorative cross-sectional study of a sample of students in preparatory vocational secondary education - Frontiers in Education, 8 - doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1225103 - [link]
- S. Sana, I. Merkelbach, T. Magnée, J. Kollmann, R. P. Peeters, P. L. Kocken & S. Denktaş (2023) - Identifying barriers to vaccination intention at walk-in vaccination facilities in deprived neighbourhoods: A cross-sectional survey - Vaccine, 41 (45), 6754-6760 - doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.08.074 - [link]
- Inge Merkelbach, Tessa Magnee, Shakib Sana, Jelena Kollmann, Paul Kocken & Semiha Denktas (2023) - Using the health belief model to explain COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in Dutch urban citizens under thirty - PLoS ONE, 18 (1 January) - doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279453 - [link]
- Paul Kocken (2024) - eHealth en digitale zelfzorg (Speaker)
Activiteit: Oral presentation › Professional - Paul Kocken (2023) - GP care use by citizens of low-income neighbourhoods in Rotterdam during Covid-19. (Speaker)
Activiteit: Oral presentation › Academic - PL (Paul) Kocken (2004) - TSG (Journal) (Member of editorial board)
Activiteit: Editorial work › Academic
4.1 Health Psychology & Behavior Change
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- FSWP4020H
4.1 Professional skills
- Year
- 2024
- Course Code
- FSWP4021H
