Lizet van Ewijk
Lizet van Ewijk works as an associate professor in the Speech Therapy Research Group: Participation through Communication. Her research focuses on enhancing the quality of life by improving access to care and support for and with people in vulnerable positions. She is the program leader of HU HEALTHY&WELL.
Her research has expanded over the past decade from communicative participation and autonomy of people with acquired brain injuries (aphasia, dementia) to all people in vulnerable positions. Communicative participation means being able to participate and matter through communication. Accessibility approached from the human perspective, rather than the system's.
'Redefining the Survival of the Fittest': Contemporary 'fitness', or the success of a person in society, is largely determined by one's ability to communicate effectively (Ruben, 2000). Limitations or barriers in language and communication have negative consequences for social interaction and all aspects of societal participation. Language proficiency is the greatest predictor of school success for children. Communication barriers can lead to barriers in participation in education and work, thereby creating undesired differences in educational opportunities, school success, and labor market chances. Additionally, they lead to undesired health disparities because people struggle with finding, understanding, evaluating, and using information about health.
"+5 and -30: do much more against health disparities, or
By 2040, all people in the Netherlands will live at least five years longer in good health, and the health disparities between the lowest and highest socioeconomic groups will have decreased by 30%." (Health Holland, KIA Health & Care, 2024-2027).
This complex task requires cross-domain collaboration between at least the social and health domains. Moreover, it requires collaboration with the people concerned. These are the people for whom participation is not self-evident. The people who can no longer make their voices heard. It asks for 'not talking about, but talking with'. With my expertise, I hope to contribute to this.
Expertises
- Communicative Participation
- Co-creation
- Acquired brain damage
Publications
- Identifying Relevant Concepts for the Development of a Communicative Participation Item Bank for Children and Adolescents A Systematic Review of Existing Instruments
- Putting participation first: The use of the ICF-model in the assessment and instruction of L2 pronunciation
- Development and Diagnostic Accuracy of a Shortened Dutch Naming Test for People with Aphasia Using Item Response Theory
