Linda Kwakkenbos, PhD - Psychology and Behavioural Science

Linda was born and raised in The Netherlands, where she obtained a BSc in Psychology (2005) and a research masters degree in Behavioural Science (2008) at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Linda then finished her PhD work in Psychology at the Rheumatology department of the Sint Maartenskliniek Nijmegen and the Behavioural Science Institute of the Radboud University Nijmegen. Her thesis focused on the assessment and treatment of psychological well-being in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Linda completed her doctoral thesis in the summer of 2012 (thesis defense January 2013).

Linda joined the Behavioural Health Research Group (BHRG) in the summer of 2012 to continue to pursue her research related to psychosocial and quality of life issues among scleroderma patients. She is the Co-Director of the Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN), an international team of more than 50 researchers, clinicians, and people with scleroderma from 8 countries, which is devoted to developing online tools to support well-being among people with scleroderma. Dr. Kwakkenbos received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé Québec (2013-2015) and was recently awarded the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2015-2017).

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• Kwakkenbos L, Delisle VC, Fox RS, Gholizadeh S, Jewett LR, Levis B, Milette K, Mills SD, Malcarne VL, Thombs BD. Psychosocial aspects of scleroderma. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. In press.
• Willems L, Vriezekolk JE, Schouffoer AA, Poole JL, Stamm TA, Bostrom C, Kwakkenbos L, Vliet Vlieland TPM, van den Ende CHM. Effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in systemic sclerosis: a systematic review. Arthritis Care Res. [E-pub ahead of print].
• Ginting H, Näring G, Kwakkenbos L, Becker ES. Spirituality and negative emotions in individuals with coronary heart disease. J Cardiovasc Nurs. [E-pub ahead of print].
• Kwakkenbos L, Minton O, Stone PC, Alexander S, Baron M, Hudson M, Thombs BD,Canadian Scleroderma Research Group. Can Cancer-Related Fatigue Case-Definition Criteria be applied to chronic medical illness? A comparison between breast cancer and systemic sclerosis. J Rheum 2014;42:1156-62.
• Thombs BD, Jewett LR, Kwakkenbos L, Hudson M, Baron M, Canadian Scleroderma Research Group. Major depression diagnoses are often transient among patients with systemic sclerosis: baseline and 1-month follow-up. Arthritis Care Res. 2015;67:411-16.
• Kwakkenbos L, Willems LM, van den Hoogen FHJ, van Lankveld WGJM, Beenackers H, van Helmond TF, Becker ES, van den Ende CHM. Cognitive-behavioural therapy targeting fear of progression in an interdisciplinary care program: a case study in systemic sclerosis. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 2014;21:297-312.
• Willems LM, Kwakkenbos L, Leite C, Thombs BD, van den Hoogen FHJ, Maia A, Vliet-Vlieland TPM, van den Ende CHM. Frequency and impact of disease symptoms experienced by patients with systemic sclerosis from five European countries. Clin Exp Rheum 2014;32:S88-93.
• Delisle V, Kwakkenbos L, Hudson M, Baron M, Thombs BD, Canadian Scleroderma Research Group. An assessment of the measurement equivalence of English and French versions of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale in systemic sclerosis. PLOS ONE 2014;9:e102897.
• Kwakkenbos L, Willems LM, Baron M, Hudson M, Cella D, van den Ende CHM, Thombs BD,Canadian Scleroderma Research Group. The comparability of English, French and Dutch scores on the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F): An assessment of differential item functioning in patients with systemic sclerosis. PLOS ONE 2014;9:e91979.
• Kwakkenbos L, Coyne JC, Thombs BD. Prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women with breast cancer. J Psychosom Res 2014; 76:485-8.
• Willems LM, Kwakkenbos L, Bode C, van den Hoogen FHJ, van den Ende CHM. Health care use and patients’ perceptions on quality of care in systemic sclerosis. Clin Exp Rheumatol2013;31:S64-70.
• Kwakkenbos L, Fransen J, Vonk MC, Becker ES, Jeurissen M, van den Hoogen FHJ, van den Ende CHM. A comparison of the measurement properties and estimation of minimal important differences of the EQ-5D and SF-6D utility measures in patients with systemic sclerosis. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2013;31:S50-6
• Kwakkenbos L, Jewett LR, Baron M, Bartlett SJ, Furst D, Gottesman K, Khanna D, Malcarne VL, Mayes MD, Mouthon L, Poiraudeau S, Sauve M, Nielson WR, Poole JL, Assassi S, Boutron I, Ells C, van den Ende CHM, Hudson M, Impens A, Körner A, Leite C, Costa Maia A, Mendelson C, Pope J, Steele RJ, Suarez-Almazor ME, Ahmed S, Coronado-Montoya S, Delisle VC, Gholizadeh S, Jang Y, Levis B, Milette K, Mills SD, Razykov I, Fox RS, Thombs BD. The Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort: Protocol for a cohort multiple randomized controlled trial (cmRCT) design to support trials of psychosocial and rehabilitation interventions in a rare disease context. BMJ Open 2013;3:e003563
• Kwakkenbos L, Arthurs E, van den Hoogen FHJ, Hudson M, van Lankveld WGJM, Baron M, van den Ende CHM, Thombs BD, Canadian Scleroderma Research Group. Cross-language measurement equivalence of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies- Depression (CES-D) Scale in systemic sclerosis: A comparison of Canadian and Dutch Patients. PLOS ONE2013;8:e53923.
• Hoogeboom TJ, Kwakkenbos L, Rietveld L, den Broeder AA, de Bie RAB, van den Ende CHM. Feasibility and potential effectiveness of a non-pharmacological multidisciplinary care programme for persons with generalised osteoarthritis: a randomised multiple-baseline single-case study. BMJ Open 2012;2:e001161.
• Kwakkenbos L, van den Hoogen FHJ, Custers J, Prins J, Vonk MC, van Lankveld WGJM, Becker ES, van den Ende CHM. Validity of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire- Short Form in patients with Systemic Sclerosis. Arthritis Care Res 2012;64:930-4.
• Kwakkenbos L, van Lankveld WGJM, Vonk MC, Becker ES, van den Hoogen FHJ, van den Ende CHM. Disease-related and psychosocial factors associated with depressive symptoms in patients with systemic sclerosis, including fear of progression and appearance self-esteem. J Psychosom Res 2012;72:199-204.
• Kwakkenbos L, Bluyssen SJM, Vonk MC, van Helmond AF, van den Ende CHM, van den Hoogen FHJ, van Lankveld WGJM. Addressing patient health care demands in systemic sclerosis: pre-post assessment of a psycho-educational group programme. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2011;29:S60-5.
• Thombs BD, van Lankveld W, Bassel M, Baron M, Buzza R, Haslam S, Haythornthwaite JA, Hudson M, Jewett LR, Knafo R, Kwakkenbos L, Malcarne VL, Milette K, Motivala SJ, Newton EG, Nielson WR, Pacy M, Razykov I, Schieir O, Taillefer S, Worron-Sauve M. Psychological health and well-being in systemic sclerosis: State of the science and consensus research agenda. Arthritis Care Res 2010;62:1181-9.
• Rinck M, Kwakkenbos L, Dotsch R, Wigboldus DHJ, Becker ES. Attentional and behavioural responses of spider fearfuls to virtual spiders. Cogn Emot 2010;24:1199-1206.
• Kwakkenbos L, Becker ES, Rinck M. Fear of spiders: The effect of real threat on the interference caused by symbolic threat. Cogn Emot 2010;24:800-9.

Letters and Commentaries

• Thombs BD, Kwakkenbos L, Coronado-Montoya S. Trial registration in rheumatology: the next step. Arthritis Care Res. 2014;10:1435-7.
• Coyne JC, Kwakkenbos L. Triple-P Positive Parenting Programs: The folly of basing social policy on underpowered flawed studies. BMC Medicine. 2013;11:11.
• Coronado-Montoya S, Kwakkenbos L, Levis B, Thombs BD. Re-assessing the clinical utility of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 for depression screening in prenatal women: A commentary on Sidebottom et al. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2013;16:253-4.

Book chapters

• Jewett LR, Kwakkenbos L, Delisle VC, Levis B, Thombs BD. Psychosocial issues and care for patients with systemic sclerosis. In: Varga J, Denton CP, Wigley FM (eds.). Scleroderma: From Pathogenesis to Comprehensive Management, 3rd ed. In press 2015.
• Kwakkenbos L, Thombs BD. Non-drug approaches to treating Raynaud’s Phenomenon. In: Wigley FM, Herrick A, Flavahan A (eds.). Raynaud’s Phenomenon. Chicago: Springer, 2015. P 299-313.

Invited Presentations

• Overcoming barriers to evaluating psychological interventions: the cohort multiple randomized controlled trial (cmRCT) design. Appearance Matters: An International Conference about the Impact of Appearance in our Society, Kristianstad, Sweden, Dec 2014.
• Ethical consideration in pre-randomized consent designs. Trials within Cohorts Symposium, London, United Kingdom, Nov 2014.
• A novel approach for pragmatic evaluations of psychological interventions: the cohort multiple randomized controlled trial (cmRCT) design. Center for Appearance Research, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom. Jun 2013.
• The Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN). Scleroderma Society UK Conference, London, United Kingdom. Jun 2013.
• Psychologisch welbevinden systemische sclerose: Vooruitgang in meten en behandelen [Psychological well-being in systemic sclerosis: Moving forward in assessment and treatment].NVLE Congress, Putten, The Netherlands. Jun 2013. In Dutch.
• How to deal with psychological issues 2nd Systemic Sclerosis World Congress (patient program), Madrid, Spain. Feb 2012.
• Health professionals and systemic autoimmune diseases: NVLE-CONNECT. Symposium NVLE-CONNECT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Jan 2012. In Dutch.
• Multidisciplinaire groepsbehandeling sclerodermie. [Multidisciplinary treatment of scleroderma]. NVLE patient congress, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. June 2009. In Dutch.
• Educational and cognitive-behavioural interventions in scleroderma. Improving Health and Well-Being in Scleroderma: Establishing a Collaborative Behavioral Health Research Agenda, Montréal, Canada. Nov 2008.

Awards and funding

• Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). ($70,000 per year).
• ZonMW Priority Medicines Rare Diseases & Orphan Drugs Network Grant “i-SPIN: Combining forces to develop, test and disseminate eHealth interventions in rare diseases: the example of the Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN)” (€8000; Co-projectleader).
• Fonds de la Recherche en Santé Québec (FRSQ) Post-doctoral Fellowship. ($30,000 per year).
• EULAR Abstract Awards 2015, Health Professionals in Rheumatology. (€1000)
• NVLE Award 2013. Dutch patient organization for systemic autoimmune diseases award for top young investigator. (€2500)
• 2013-2015 Fonds de la Recherche en Santé Québec (FRSQ); Formation postdoctorale ($30,000/yr).
• 2013- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, Institute Community Support Travel Award ($975).
• 2012- NVLE, Dutch patient organization for systemic autoimmune diseases; travel award for 2nd Scleroderma World Congress, Madrid (Spain), (€500).
• 2011- NVLE, Dutch patient organization for systemic autoimmune diseases; travel award for educational visit to McGill Jewish Hospital, Behavioural Health Research Group, Montreal (Canada) (€1500).