Marleen Bekker
Biographic Data
| ID | 3919704 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marleen Bekker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marleen |
| FAMILY NAME | Bekker |
| SIGNATURE | BEKKER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Wageningen University & Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7431-4374 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 24 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Strengthening collaboration within Dutch municipalities for a healthier living environment: Experiences and possible improvements according to civil servants
Background: Health is partly determined by the physical environment in which people live. It is therefore crucial to consider health when designing the physical living space. This requires collaboration between the social and physical domains within municipalities. Collaboration is not self-evident, however, and it is difficult to achieve due to barriers relating to culture, language and work processes. Additionally, improvements in collaboration…
Quantifying reciprocal relationships between poverty and health: Combining a causal loop diagram with longitudinal structural equation modelling
Income and financial wealth appear to have limited effects on the health of the overall population of The Netherlands. However, there are indications that these effects may be stronger for individuals who are closer to the poverty threshold. Since the estimated effects of physical capability on income and financial wealth are more substantial, a broad recommendation would be that including physical capability in efforts that are aimed at improvin…
Strategies for public health adaptation to climate change in practice: Social learning in the processionary Moth Knowledge Platform
Social learning theory can support understanding of how a group of diverse actors addresses complex challenges related to public health adaptation. This study focuses on one specific issue of public health adaptation: oak processionary moth (OPM) adaptation. With a social learning framework, we examined how public health adaption strategies gradually develop and are adjusted on the basis of new knowledge and experiences. For this qualitative case…
Effects of major urban redesign on sedentary behavior, physical activity, active transport and health-related quality of life in adults
This research was retrospectively registered at the Netherlands Trial Register (NL8108)
Qualitative modelling of social determinants of health using group model building: The case of debt, poverty, and health
Building a model with GMB helps grasp the complex situation of a wicked problem, for which it is unlikely that its interrelationships result in a fully intuitive understanding with linear mechanisms. Using this approach, effects of SDoH can be made visible and the body of evidence expanded. Importantly, it elicits stakeholders' perspectives on a complex reality and offers a non-arbitrary way of formulating the model structure. This qualitative mo…
Visualizing changes in physical activity behavioral patterns after redesigning urban infrastructure
The aim of this study was to explore effects of a major urban reconstruction on physical activity (PA) behavior by comparing PA intensity hotspots before and after the tunneling of a highway with a new infrastructure prioritized for walking and cycling. In total, 126 individuals participated before and after the tunneling. GPS loggers and accelerometers were used to assess location and PA levels. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to …
Combining Accelerometry and GPS to Assess Neighborhood-Based Physical Activity: Associations With Perceived Neighborhood Walkability
This study explored associations between perceived neighborhood walkability and neighborhood-based physical activity (NB-PA) and assessed possible moderation effects of the amount of time spent in the home neighborhood and individual characteristics (i.e., educational level and health-related problems). In 2016 to 2017, 509 Dutch adults, living in the South Limburg area, were included. Context-specific PA levels were measured using the Actigraph …
Understanding Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change: An Explorative Study on the Development of Adaptation Strategies Relating to the Oak Processionary Moth in The Netherlands
Understanding of public health adaptation (PHA) to climate change and implementation is limited. This study therefore focuses on one specific PHA issue: adaptation to the oak processionary moth (OPM). The aim is to examine the development of OPM adaptation in order to offer a problem description of the complexities involved in OPM adaptation. In this explorative case study, we investigate adaptation strategies based on semi-structured interviews …
Quantitative health impact assessment methodology for societal initiatives: A scoping review
Health initiatives are increasingly situated outside the institutionalised public health sector. The intersectoral character of societal initiatives, along with indirect relationships between initiatives and health, makes making projections of reach, impact and goal achievement complex. This scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature searches for appropriate methods to conduct quantitative health impact assessment for such initiatives. Databa…
The role of context in evaluation studies: Lessons from a process evaluation of integrating health in urban reconstruction
Project implementation poses crucial conditions to achieving the intended outcomes. • Political agency influences goal achievement and should be incorporated into CICI. • Design and implementation depend on context, which co-evolve over time. • The distinction between intervention and context is analytical and affects validity
Policy, politics and public health
If public health is the field that diagnoses and strives to cure social ills, then understanding political causes and cures for health problems should be an intrinsic part of the field. In this article, we argue that there is no support for the simple and common, implicit model of politics in which scientific evidence plus political will produces healthy policies. Efforts to improve the translation of evidence into policy such as knowledge transf…
Hybrid Management Configurations in Joint Research
Researchers are increasingly expected to deliver "socially robust knowledge" that is not only scientifically reliable but also takes into account demands from societal actors. This article focuses on an empirical example where these additional criteria are explicitly organized into research settings. We investigate how the multiple "accountabilities" are managed in such "responsive research settings." This article provides an empirical account of…
Dutch Academic Collaborative Centres for Public Health: Development through time – issues, dilemmas and coping strategies
While much research utilisation literature shows an increasing emphasis on the added value of structural partnerships, which should facilitate prolonged interactions between researchers, policy makers and professionals, the question of how such collaborative structures develop over time and what consequences that has in terms of collaboration is usually neglected. This paper offers an empirical analysis of a Dutch partnership format developed ove…
Connecting evidence and policy: Bringing researchers and policy makers together for effective evidence-based health policy in the Netherlands: a case study
The use of evidence in health promotion has become the gold standard, and obliges rethinking how to increase the (often limited) use of evidence in public health policy. Recently calls have been made to reconceptualise science policy relations as dynamic, interactive and coconstructive practices. Building on a qualitative investigation of an information tool for the Dutch government, the authors show how the nature of evidence is closely linked t…
Linking research and policy in Dutch healthcare: Infrastructure, innovations and impacts
The call for ‘evidence-based health policy’ in the Netherlands has to date been accommodated by the consensual policy tradition in this country and by the institutionalised arrangements for research funding, researcher career development and research accountability systems. The aim of this paper is to describe and explain from a sociological perspective how these arrangements for two-way research–policy interactions enable the co-production of ‘u…
Evaluating the impact of HIA on urban reconstruction decision-making. Who manages whose risks
Exploring the relation between evidence and decision-making
Exploring the relation between evidence and decision-making
Evaluating the impact of HIA on urban reconstruction decision-making. Who manages whose risks
Linking research and policy in Dutch healthcare: Infrastructure, innovations and impacts
The call for ‘evidence-based health policy’ in the Netherlands has to date been accommodated by the consensual policy tradition in this country and by the institutionalised arrangements for research funding, researcher career development and research accountability systems. The aim of this paper is to describe and explain from a sociological perspective how these arrangements for two-way research–policy interactions enable the co-production of ‘u…
Hybrid Management Configurations in Joint Research
Researchers are increasingly expected to deliver "socially robust knowledge" that is not only scientifically reliable but also takes into account demands from societal actors. This article focuses on an empirical example where these additional criteria are explicitly organized into research settings. We investigate how the multiple "accountabilities" are managed in such "responsive research settings." This article provides an empirical account of…
Dutch Academic Collaborative Centres for Public Health: Development through time – issues, dilemmas and coping strategies
While much research utilisation literature shows an increasing emphasis on the added value of structural partnerships, which should facilitate prolonged interactions between researchers, policy makers and professionals, the question of how such collaborative structures develop over time and what consequences that has in terms of collaboration is usually neglected. This paper offers an empirical analysis of a Dutch partnership format developed ove…
Connecting evidence and policy: Bringing researchers and policy makers together for effective evidence-based health policy in the Netherlands: a case study
The use of evidence in health promotion has become the gold standard, and obliges rethinking how to increase the (often limited) use of evidence in public health policy. Recently calls have been made to reconceptualise science policy relations as dynamic, interactive and coconstructive practices. Building on a qualitative investigation of an information tool for the Dutch government, the authors show how the nature of evidence is closely linked t…
Exploring the relation between evidence and decision-making
Evaluating the impact of HIA on urban reconstruction decision-making. Who manages whose risks
Linking research and policy in Dutch healthcare: Infrastructure, innovations and impacts
The call for ‘evidence-based health policy’ in the Netherlands has to date been accommodated by the consensual policy tradition in this country and by the institutionalised arrangements for research funding, researcher career development and research accountability systems. The aim of this paper is to describe and explain from a sociological perspective how these arrangements for two-way research–policy interactions enable the co-production of ‘u…
Connecting evidence and policy: Bringing researchers and policy makers together for effective evidence-based health policy in the Netherlands: a case study
The use of evidence in health promotion has become the gold standard, and obliges rethinking how to increase the (often limited) use of evidence in public health policy. Recently calls have been made to reconceptualise science policy relations as dynamic, interactive and coconstructive practices. Building on a qualitative investigation of an information tool for the Dutch government, the authors show how the nature of evidence is closely linked t…
Dutch Academic Collaborative Centres for Public Health: Development through time – issues, dilemmas and coping strategies
While much research utilisation literature shows an increasing emphasis on the added value of structural partnerships, which should facilitate prolonged interactions between researchers, policy makers and professionals, the question of how such collaborative structures develop over time and what consequences that has in terms of collaboration is usually neglected. This paper offers an empirical analysis of a Dutch partnership format developed ove…
Hybrid Management Configurations in Joint Research
Researchers are increasingly expected to deliver "socially robust knowledge" that is not only scientifically reliable but also takes into account demands from societal actors. This article focuses on an empirical example where these additional criteria are explicitly organized into research settings. We investigate how the multiple "accountabilities" are managed in such "responsive research settings." This article provides an empirical account of…
Policy, politics and public health
If public health is the field that diagnoses and strives to cure social ills, then understanding political causes and cures for health problems should be an intrinsic part of the field. In this article, we argue that there is no support for the simple and common, implicit model of politics in which scientific evidence plus political will produces healthy policies. Efforts to improve the translation of evidence into policy such as knowledge transf…
The role of context in evaluation studies: Lessons from a process evaluation of integrating health in urban reconstruction
Project implementation poses crucial conditions to achieving the intended outcomes. • Political agency influences goal achievement and should be incorporated into CICI. • Design and implementation depend on context, which co-evolve over time. • The distinction between intervention and context is analytical and affects validity
Combining Accelerometry and GPS to Assess Neighborhood-Based Physical Activity: Associations With Perceived Neighborhood Walkability
This study explored associations between perceived neighborhood walkability and neighborhood-based physical activity (NB-PA) and assessed possible moderation effects of the amount of time spent in the home neighborhood and individual characteristics (i.e., educational level and health-related problems). In 2016 to 2017, 509 Dutch adults, living in the South Limburg area, were included. Context-specific PA levels were measured using the Actigraph …
Understanding Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change: An Explorative Study on the Development of Adaptation Strategies Relating to the Oak Processionary Moth in The Netherlands
Understanding of public health adaptation (PHA) to climate change and implementation is limited. This study therefore focuses on one specific PHA issue: adaptation to the oak processionary moth (OPM). The aim is to examine the development of OPM adaptation in order to offer a problem description of the complexities involved in OPM adaptation. In this explorative case study, we investigate adaptation strategies based on semi-structured interviews …
Quantitative health impact assessment methodology for societal initiatives: A scoping review
Health initiatives are increasingly situated outside the institutionalised public health sector. The intersectoral character of societal initiatives, along with indirect relationships between initiatives and health, makes making projections of reach, impact and goal achievement complex. This scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature searches for appropriate methods to conduct quantitative health impact assessment for such initiatives. Databa…
Qualitative modelling of social determinants of health using group model building: The case of debt, poverty, and health
Building a model with GMB helps grasp the complex situation of a wicked problem, for which it is unlikely that its interrelationships result in a fully intuitive understanding with linear mechanisms. Using this approach, effects of SDoH can be made visible and the body of evidence expanded. Importantly, it elicits stakeholders' perspectives on a complex reality and offers a non-arbitrary way of formulating the model structure. This qualitative mo…
Visualizing changes in physical activity behavioral patterns after redesigning urban infrastructure
The aim of this study was to explore effects of a major urban reconstruction on physical activity (PA) behavior by comparing PA intensity hotspots before and after the tunneling of a highway with a new infrastructure prioritized for walking and cycling. In total, 126 individuals participated before and after the tunneling. GPS loggers and accelerometers were used to assess location and PA levels. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to …
Strategies for public health adaptation to climate change in practice: Social learning in the processionary Moth Knowledge Platform
Social learning theory can support understanding of how a group of diverse actors addresses complex challenges related to public health adaptation. This study focuses on one specific issue of public health adaptation: oak processionary moth (OPM) adaptation. With a social learning framework, we examined how public health adaption strategies gradually develop and are adjusted on the basis of new knowledge and experiences. For this qualitative case…
Effects of major urban redesign on sedentary behavior, physical activity, active transport and health-related quality of life in adults
This research was retrospectively registered at the Netherlands Trial Register (NL8108)
Strengthening collaboration within Dutch municipalities for a healthier living environment: Experiences and possible improvements according to civil servants
Background: Health is partly determined by the physical environment in which people live. It is therefore crucial to consider health when designing the physical living space. This requires collaboration between the social and physical domains within municipalities. Collaboration is not self-evident, however, and it is difficult to achieve due to barriers relating to culture, language and work processes. Additionally, improvements in collaboration…
Quantifying reciprocal relationships between poverty and health: Combining a causal loop diagram with longitudinal structural equation modelling
Income and financial wealth appear to have limited effects on the health of the overall population of The Netherlands. However, there are indications that these effects may be stronger for individuals who are closer to the poverty threshold. Since the estimated effects of physical capability on income and financial wealth are more substantial, a broad recommendation would be that including physical capability in efforts that are aimed at improvin…
Computer Science (10 works) · Medicine (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Economics (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Public relations (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Geography (6 works) · Health Policy Implementation Science (6 works) · Law (6 works)