Dr. Chen Saar

Dr. Chen Saar is a licensed educational psychologist, an information systems engineer, and a post-doctoral fellow at the Social Development Lab.

Chen earned her B.Sc. in Information Systems Engineering at the Technion and completed her M.A. in Occupational and Organizational Psychology at the University of Haifa. She then completed her internship in educational psychology. Chen completed her Ph.D. at the University of Haifa, specializing in the development and evaluation of digital mental health interventions. During her doctoral studies, she conducted quantitative and qualitative research, designed theory-driven digital programs, and led research teams as the lab manager of the Digital Psychological Interventions Lab.

Chen brings interdisciplinary experience that integrates clinical work with technological expertise. At the Social Development Lab, she aims to examine how children internalize moral and social values in the context of emerging AI-mediated relationships.

Publications:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chen-saar/

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z1iDIBYAAAAJ&hl=iw

Saar, C.R., Brandes, O., & Baumel, A. (2025). Does human support add value to persuasive design-based digital mental health interventions? A propensity score matching study of a digital parenting program. Frontiers in Digital Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1586668 .

Saar, C.R., Brandes, O., Aderka, I.M., & Baumel, A. (2025). Examining the Impact of Intervention Quality on Mechanisms of Change in Digital Parent Training Programs. Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-025-03094-z .

Saar, C.R., Brandes, O., & Baumel, A. (2024). Identifying Active Ingredients that Cause Change in Digital Parent Training Programs for Child Behavior Problems: A Qualitative Exploration. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01803-1 .

Brandes, O., Saar, C.R., & Baumel, A. (2025). Examining Differential Effects of Digital Parent Training for Child Behavior Problems on Maternal and Paternal Outcomes. Children. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12040469 .

Ashur O., Saar, C.R., Brandes, O., & Baumel, A. (2024). Are there unique facets of therapeutic alliance for users of digital mental health interventions? An examination with the eHealth Therapeutic Alliance Inventory. Internet Interventions. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2024.100783 .

Baumel, A., Brandes, O., Brendryen, H., Muench, F., Kane, J. M., & Saar, C. (2023). The Impact of Therapeutic Persuasiveness on Engagement and Outcomes in Unguided Interventions: A Randomized Pilot Trial of a Digital Parent Training Program for Child Behavior Problems. Internet Interventions. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2023.100680 .