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In this paper, the author addresses the issue of relationship between the organ transplantation and the migratory experience. In the transplant practice the organs “migrate”, prolonging their own existence and at the same time ensuring life to the recipient. The experience of organ transplantation shocks not only the body, but also the sense of Self, and the integration process is very complicated, because the hospitality is inseparable from the intrusion. The alienating experience of transplantation reveals the foreign in our own bodies. The new organ, in fact, is an intensily ambiguous object, that evokes the Freudian concept of Unheimlich. In this contribution the author tries to identify some analytical paths that could favour the psychosomatic integration of transplanted organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will focus on what the author calls the "green factor": the plant world's ability to foster profound healing and self-healing processes. This factor could be considered an element capable of promoting the analytic couple's journey in individuation through a "good enough rhythmical interaction". Such interaction is made possible by creating and maintaining, in therapy, a good level of empathy, mirroring and resonance that -- echoing natural cyclical rhythms primarily in nonverbal communication -- fosters the passage from dissociation to integration. This dynamic depends mainly on paying constant attention to the various kinds of images referring to nature (both inside and outside ourselves), i.e. attention on the "green world" that reconnects us with the wider ecosystem of which we human beings form a part. The author suggests that remembering and respecting the profound relationship between Mind and Earth or Psyche and Gaia means developing and cultivating an ecological attitude or eco-oriented epistemology, a theory according to which, individual wellbeing can be considered a fragment of the health of our planet, in the same way as the individual anima is a spark of anima mundi. This theory has been embraced by numerous scholars ranging from Jung to Bateson, Mancuso and Schore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a wide literature has highlighted the importance of studying the acculturation processes and its implications as a risk factor for the psychosocial adaptation, currently, very few instruments developed on ad hoc basis for adolescents are available. The present paper offers a review of the instruments for evaluating acculturation among adolescents. Based on an international literaturebased analysis, structural features, psychometric qualities, strengths and points of weakness are indicated for each presented measure. Psychometric features, which needs to be gathered in order to advance assessment methods and techniques in this area, are discussed to help both choosing among existing measures and promoting research aimed to the development of specifically designed measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those who experience integration issues - as migrants or as receivers - know that integration is the result of a very long - and sometimes very hard - mediation effort. Both parties need to take up the responsibility of the negotiation, that often gives rise to strong emotions and requires to compromise between resources and opportunities of a economic, as well as psychological and affective, nature. In the introduction possible relationships between foreigners and the land they have moved to are outlined, and possible fantasies prompted by their arrival. The paper focuses on the crossing of borders by new entries in a small psychotherapy group, and the dynamics of hospitality, acquisition and integration. The arrival of a new patient in a group bears similarities to the arrival of a newborn sibling, but also with the arrival of a foreigner from a different culture. A number of clinical vignettes will show how the borders of the therapy group change after each new entry and the extensive work that must be done to re-define and re-shape the identity and culture of the group. As migrants take a stance about those who have never left home, new patients prompt fantasies about siblings who have left the small therapy group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy is increasingly becoming a culturally complex society. This poses numerous challenges for developmental and educational psychology, mainly in terms of how to encourage adequate levels of social harmony by promoting positive development of both immigrant and autochthonous youth. Within this perspective, the current paper presents the Italian findings of the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) international project, postulating the centrality of three core hypotheses: integration, multiculturalism, and contact. Two studies were performed to investigate these hypotheses. Study 1 comprised 188 Tunisian adolescents aged 13-18 (51% F; Mage=15.94), while Study 2 included 282 Italian adolescents aged 13-18 (58% F; Mage=16.34). Data collection involved completion of the Italian version of the MIRIPS questionnaires, including security, contact, attitudes, acculturation, and well-being measures. In both studies, hypotheses were simultaneously tested by a SEM approach. The tested theoretical models fit the data well. For Tunisian adolescents, establishing contacts with Italian peers was associated with acculturation outcomes of integration (contact hypothesis), that, in turn, were related to higher well-being (integration hypothesis). Also, higher levels of perceived discrimination were related to acculturation outcomes of separation (multiculturalism hypothesis). For Italian adolescents, feelings of security were linked to higher multicultural ideology and tolerance (multiculturalism hypothesis) as well as to higher contact with immigrants, that, in turn, were connected to lower segregationist attitudes (contact hypothesis). Moreover, higher levels of acculturation expectation of multiculturalism (the idea that nondominant/immigrant groups should be integrated by both maintaining the original culture and adopting the dominant/hosting culture) were linked to higher self-esteem (integration hypothesis). The findings substantially supported the three core hypotheses and provided insights for decision-makers and practitioners to design effective social policies and educational programs to enhance the quality of intercultural relations among youth in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a research work about evaluation of the acted and desired quality of professional activity within the school for foreigners of the multiethnic cultural center "La Tenda" in Milan. Competences useful for the professional development are the fulcrum of this evaluative research that has tried, not only to describe what implements the studied quality, but also to highlight the premises and consequences. In addition to the skills necessary for the professional mission, we therefore refer to the pre-requisites for carrying out the task: personal (eg: education), material (eg structural endowment) and intangible (eg: the ethical principles of the school). We refer to the facilitating elements and the consequent result that can be achieved by the work that the school teachers carry out (learning Italian and integrating with the new culture). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conjectures that standard archival descriptions are no longer efficient in order to answer to society needs, mainly in an intercultural perspective. After a brief evaluation of the peculiarities of cultural heritage different domain languages, the specific issues of archival descriptions are discussed, seeking the possible strategies - technological as well as cultural - valid to open to an integration of descriptive languages. A particular focus is proposed on RDA, an approach which shows to be the best candidate to harmonize the separate descriptions typical of archival domain and activating the potential informative integrations with any limitation of information environments and single content quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades the integration of social and health care has been the focus of several researches and of the development of a normative regulation, produced both at nationally and regionally level. Each regional government, especially after the reform of Title V of the Constitution made in 2001, have developed different ways and tools to pursue the integration along the three different levels: institutional, managerial and professional. The evaluation of the territorial integration processes between social areas, managed by local authorities, and health areas, managed by local health authorities, therefore arouses particular interest, despite - or perhaps because of - the complexity of these policies. This paper analyzes, from an evaluative perspective, the realization of social-health integration in Lazio, as it has been perceived by some of the main actors (persons in charge for integration at district level and social workers). The research has adopted quantitative and qualitative tools, trying to integrate them, in order to identify, among the collected information, the evaluation evidences of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]