Dr. Lena Jäggi

Lena Jäggi, PhD, MLaw is a Senior Scientific Collaborator at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) at the University of Basel, Switzerland. She earned her doctorate in Applied Developmental Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University, USA, in 2016, and holds a Master of Law in Criminology and Criminal Law from the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Dr. Jäggi’s research lies at the intersection of law, psychology, and public health, with a particular focus on intergenerational violence prevention and healthy child development in diverse cultural contexts. Her recent work centers on early childhood development in Majority World settings, with an emphasis on developing culturally relevant measures of parenting, as well as assessing mental health and well-being among parents and children in low-literacy populations.

She has extensive experience in program evaluation in contexts of trauma, juvenile justice, and child protection systems, and has collaborated with NGOs, community organizations, universities, and state agencies across the U.S., Southern Africa, Switzerland, and Latin America. Currently, she coordinates a randomized controlled trial of a digital early childhood development intervention for parents in Peru, integrating both qualitative and advanced quantitative methods (e.g., Structural Equation Modeling, multilevel modeling) in her research.

Her work often explores the protective role of strong families and the intergenerational patterns that shape caregiving practices, aiming to inform policies and interventions that strengthen nurturing environments for children.

Areas of Research Interest

Early Childhood Development & Parenting in Majority World Contexts – with a focus on culturally relevant measurement tools and interventions for low-literacy populations.
Intergenerational Violence Prevention & Strong Families – examining protective factors, caregiving practices, and policy implications.
Measurement of Mental Health & Well-being – developing and validating tools suitable for diverse cultural settings and under-resourced contexts.

Hinckley K, Gastiaburú Cabello M.C, Alvarado M, McCoy D.C, Mäusezahl D, Fink G, Hatch S.F, Quispe Roncal N.G, Gonzales Eslava N, Huaylinos Bustamante M.L, Castellanos A, Hartinger S.M, Jäggi L. Caregivers' perceptions and practices regarding responsive caregiving and early learning in Cajamarca, Andean Peru: a qualitative study. Infant Child Dev. 2025;34(4):e70036. DOI: 10.1002/icd.70036

Jäggi L, Hartinger S.M, Fink G, McCoy D.C, Alvarado M.L, Hinckley K, Ramirez-Varela L, Aguilar L, Castellanos A, Mäusezahl D. Parenting in the digital age: a scoping review of digital early childhood parenting interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). Public Health Rev. 2025;45:1607651. DOI: 10.3389/phrs.2024.1607651

Hartinger Peña S.M, Mäusezahl D, Jäggi L, Aguilar L, Alvarado Llatance M, Castellanos A, Huaylinos Bustamante M.L, Hinckley K, Charles McCoy D, Zhang C, Fink G. Digital support systems to improve child health and development in Peru: protocol for a randomized controlled trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2023;12:e50371. DOI: 10.2196/50371

Jäggi L, Aguilar L, Alvarado Llatance M, Castellanos A, Fink G, Hinckley K, Huaylinos Bustamante M.L, McCoy D.C, Verastegui H, Mäusezahl D, Hartinger Peña S.M. Digital tools to improve parenting behaviour in low-income settings: a mixed-methods feasibility study. Arch Dis Child. 2023;108(6):433-439. DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324964