Dike van de Mheen, endowed professor of Healthcare and the Prevention of High-Risk Behaviour and Addiction:
“Cooperation leads to higher quality rehabilitation”
Rehabilitation has become much more professional over the past twenty years according to Dike van de Mheen, endowed professor of Healthcare and the Prevention of High-Risk Behaviours and Addiction. Yet she still sees plenty of research opportunities in this area and prefers to implement these in the field of rehabilitation. “I am convinced that cooperation leads to higher quality and more efficient healthcare and prevention.”
The new professor at the Department of Health Education at CAPHRI has been conducting research for many years on all forms of addiction. She is also a professor of addiction research at the ErasmusMc in Rotterdam and director of the IVO Institute of Research on Lifestyle & Addiction. The IVO also finances the position she now holds at CAPHRI. “That’s nothing new,” she says, “the links between IVO and CAPHRI have existed for much longer. But with my appointment, the position does gain a new impetus aimed at rehabilitation and addiction prevention. IVO seeks to collaborate with universities because they believe it will help facilitate their knowledge acquisition.”
The IVO is therefore actively seeking contact with client organisations and rehabilitation centres. “I’ll be working with the Mondriaan Zorggroep at CAPHRI, who now sponsors a CAPHRI PhD candidate. I believe this practical connection is very important. We should support healthcare providers and clients and involve them in research at a very early stage. We shouldn’t ask questions from ivory towers, but instead determine the questions that clients and healthcare providers really want answered.”
Vulnerability
Her new role as endowed professor requires Dike van de Mheen to regularly commute to Maastricht; a journey that, having obtained a degree in health sciences there in the eighties, constitutes a return to her roots. “I wasn’t really interested in the health of the individual, but rather in the health of society. And Maastricht was the only place that offered a programme that matched my interests.”
After Maastricht, she worked as an epidemiologist and health scientist at the Rotterdam Public Health Service (GGD) and went on to graduate from the ErasmusMc for her research on socio-economic health differences. This study triggered her interest in an individual’s susceptibility to becoming addicted to certain substances or behaviours. “Addiction is not tied to social class; it is present in all layers of society. I find it very interesting to research why people become addicted in order to make a contribution to improving healthcare and, therefore, quality of life.”
Susceptibility
It is clear that both environmental factors and genetic factors contribute to developing an addiction. “Some people are more prone to addiction than others and therefore also more vulnerable. This is particularly true of people who were raised under difficult circumstances; circumstances they had no control over. Addiction is therefore not only the responsibility of the individual, but a societal responsibility as well. It’s a disease.”
Inherent to all addicts is the tendency to fall back into old habits. “That’s what makes this field so difficult to work in. It’s extremely hard work and I have the utmost respect for these healthcare practitioners. It’s clear that rehabilitation has become much more professional over the past twenty years. Work is now being conducted in accordance with clear protocols and guidelines based on more effective treatment methods. But, as I mentioned, there is still plenty of room for improvement in healthcare and prevention. And I plan on working diligently with others to realise this.”