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Summary: Burnout has recently been identified as a disorder by the World Health Organization. Although helping professions are the most exposed to burnout, there is a lack of research on work-related stress in social service workers, such as frontline workers in homeless services. The aim of this study is to evaluate burnout in a sample of Italian providers working in homelessness services, exploring the differences between traditional services and Housing First. Burnout was measured through the Link Burnout Questionnaire, consisting of four dimensions investigating Psychophysical exhaustion, Depersonalization, Professional inefficacy and Disillusion. A total of 69 participants (40 social providers and 29 educators of both types of service) responded to the survey. The results show similar levels of burnout in providers and educators working in the two types of services., Competing Interests: The authors of this article have no conflict of interests to disclose., (Copyright© by GIMLE.)

Objectives: The main aim of this paper is to examine the role of human factors in the safety of ship transport (shipping)., Methods: Particularly, we analyzed the personal, psychosocial and organizational factor that intervene in this context and the consequences on the safety performance and workers' well-being., Results: In this review, some shipping accidents and their causes are presented and a particular attention will be paid to human error, fatigue and stress, non-technical skills and perception of safety., Conclusions: In the final part of the paper the safety performance and its antecedents in the context of shipping will be extensively examined., Competing Interests: The authors of this article have no conflict of interests to disclose., (Copyright© by Aracne Editrice, Roma, Italy.)

Objectives: While in the international literature, research on burnout predictors among correctional officers is well developed, as regards Italy there is a paucity of empirical evidence. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify, among various types of psychosocial factors, the burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment) predictors in a sample of Italian correctional officers., Methods: The study involved 130 correctional officers that filled out a self-reported questionnaire. Multiple linear regressions highlighted as predictors of emotional exhaustion: relational demands, reward and physical demands; depersonalization: role conflict and support from colleagues; personal accomplishment: skill discretion., Results: Generally speaking, the present study confirms that the three burnout subdimensions were predicted by different psychosocial factors. Moreover, results highlighted that both intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of the job, and social aspects significantly explained burnout among correctional officers., Conclusions: Conversely, no organizational factors were found to be burnout predictors. Interventions aimed at preventing burnout among correctional officers may include training programs aimed at developing interpersonal skills. Moreover, the paper argues that both the detention conditions and the quality of work life among correctional officers may benefit from the increasing of the psycho-educational staff within the Italian correctional facilities., Competing Interests: The authors of this article have no conflict of interests to disclose., (Copyright© by Aracne Editrice, Roma, Italy.)

Objectives: Interpersonal relationships contribute to the psychological adjustments to chronic disease, directly affecting health and, more generally, life satisfaction of patients. Those factors are often threatened by the fear of becoming target of prejudices and discrimination from those who share their daily life with. Thus, this study proposes a contribution to the Italian adaptation and validation of the Chronic Illness Anticipated Stigma Scale (CIASS), a brief questionnaire (12 items) that aims to assess perceived stigma of chronic illness patients in family, work and health care contexts., Methods: 279 chronic illness patients have completed the questionnaire, comparing the scores with those obtained in depression (BDI-II), anxiety (STAI), and internalized stigma scales., Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the Italian sample has shown the same structure of the original questionnaire, composed by three dimensions of anticipated stigma, experienced with family and friends, work colleagues and health care providers. Correlation analyses confirm the relation between scores of anticipated stigma and other mental health indicators as anxiety and depression., Conclusions: Italian version of CIASS demonstrates to be a valid and reliable instrument, considering it both as an indicator of person's state of health and a promising marker of the specific kind of perceived discrimination in family, care and working contexts., Competing Interests: The authors of this article have no conflict of interests to disclose., (Copyright© by Aracne Editrice, Roma, Italy.)

Introduction: Health worker's population is espoused to high level of stress, and several studies highlight differences between intensive care units (ICU) and non-intensive care unit (non-ICU). Particular features of the job in ICU concern responsibilities for critically patients, highly advanced technology and need for quick decision., Aims: Aims of this study are: (1) to examine differences between ICU's and not-ICU's workers on several dimensions describing work environment and workers' health; (2) investigate which specific work conditions have a role in determining psychological work reactions in ICU's and not-ICU's workers., Method: 144 ICUs' and not-ICU's 114 workers employed in an Italian Hospital filled out a questionnaire concerning decision authority, autonomy, colleagues' and supervisors' support, physical and cognitive demands as antecedents; job satisfaction and job burnout (EE, DP) as consequences., Results: 1) MANOVA highlighted how ICU workers reported significantly higher scores on depersonalization, job satisfaction, aggressive customers, while physical demands and proportionate customer expectations were significantly higher for not-ICU workers; (2) Six Multiple Linear Regressions were carried out. Those indicated decision authority, autonomy and supervisors' support as predictors of emotional exhaustions in ICU. In not-ICU only cognitive demands and colleagues' support are significant predictors. Depersonalization is predicted in ICU by colleagues' support. Predictors of job satisfaction both in ICU and not-ICU are: decision authority and colleagues support., Conclusion: Current study highlighted several differences among ICU and non-ICU workers' referred to work environment and psychological reactions.

In this paper, we reviewed the literature on volition and the principal studies on the reasons for choosing temporary work, which explain in more details how voluntary/involuntary status is interpreted. The description of a research, based on a sample of 1979 workers, is presented with two aims: 1. confirm a structural model that examines the effects on satisfaction of some variables, such as motivation and trust; 2. evaluate the influence of volition and reasons for choosing a temporary employment on job satisfaction. The results confirm the plausibility of the proposed structural model and show interesting results regarding the reasons for choosing temporary work.

Objective: Cancer patients family caregivers are exposed to several physical and emotional distress. Many recent reviews have provided strong evidence linking negative affective states and dispositions to disease. Moreover, several recent studies suggested that perseverative cognition, as manifested in worry, plays a role in nearly all anxiety disorders and is a crucial factor in somatic health as well. In this study, we tested a group of family caregivers since we wanted to find out whether worry might act directly on psychological and somatic diseases., Methods: The sample consists of 107 family caregivers. Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires including the Caregiver Burden Inventory, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, the Psychophysiological Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory. They underwent tests at the moment of oncological home-care request., Results: The study has revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between worry measures and mental and physical health of the participants. In fact, the tendency to perseverative cognition resulted as a powerful and solid predictor of physical symptomatology (R = 0.5, beta = 0.67, p < 0.001) and depression level (R = 0.46, beta = 0.52, p < 0.000001)., Conclusions: Worry plays an important role in psychological and physical health and it is a counterproductive attempt at constructive mental problem solving. These results have great practical and operative value. Interventions improving caregiver's ability to cope with stress situations are likely to result in more positive benefits for cancer patients: in fact, if we promote the caregiver's physical and emotional well-being, he or she can provide the best care possible to the patient.

Objective: Care professionals are particularly exposed to the risk of burnout, exiting from unbalancing between demands and resources at work. This work wanted to investigate several possible antecedents of the burnout syndrome., Methods: A self-report questionnaire was filled by 307 workers in two hospitals in the Piemonte Region. The present study examined: perceived social support, patients' exceeding expectations and gratitude, one of the so called "Emerging Psychosocial Risks", the work-family relationship, that can be expressed by the concepts of conflict, and enrichment., Results: Multiple hierarchical regression models put in evidence the influence that the studied demands and resources play on the three dimensions of the burnout (Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, Personal Accomplishment)., Conclusions: Results highlight the significant (and sometimes higher) impact of relationship (exceeding expectations and gratitude) with patients and work-family relationship has on burnout, besides job characteristics and organizational support.

Introduction: In recent years, the interest in the well-being at work has grown considerably, also considering the latest law directives. Several scholars have devoted particular attention to the topic of the work-to-family influence and of social supports, as elements able to affect the perceived well-being. The well-being in health care has to consider the particular nature of work and the relevant relational dimensions that require special attention for the emotional side., Methods: The research was promoted by the Committee for Equal Opportunities of a public health organization in the North-West Italy. Referring to the job demands-resources theoretical model, this study investigated the role of organizational and family supports, work-to-family spillover (positive and negative) and family workload as possible determinants of job satisfaction, intended as an indicator of psychological well-being at work. Respondents to the questionnaire are 541 (55% of the total employees), their average age is 43 and they are mostly women (80%)., Results: Data analysis showed the central role of supervisors supports, of the co-workers supports and, to a lesser extent, the role of the work-to-family spillover in influencing job satisfaction. Moreover, significant differences between medical and administrative staff were detected., Conclusions: The centrality of supports, especially those of supervisors in determining job satisfaction, is in line with studies indicating that a supportive leadership and a family-friendly culture can facilitate the arise of positive outcomes for both workers and organizations.

Objective: Although the term workaholism is widely used, because of the changes in the nature of work and careers in recent years, research on this topic is still hindered by the absence of common definitions and measures. In recent times, some researchers have found evidence of the association of workaholism and poorer psychosocial well-being: hence, the need for a deeper understanding of the construct and its measurement. This study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Work Excessively (WE) scale of the brief DUWAS (1, 2)., Methods: The 5-item scale was submitted to a sample of 853 workers from different occupational sectors. The psychometric characteristics of the scale have been examined through explorative and confirmatory factor analysis and reliability., Results: The results of the data analysis confirm the one-factor solution, with a good internal consistency: the scale shows differences based on some demographic variables (gender and professional sector) and the correlations with other dimensions are in line with the indications in literature., Conclusions: Further investigations could concern the construct's reliability using a test-retest procedure as well as the analysis of relationships with other indicators of workaholism. The 5-item Italian version of the WE scale could be used in Italy to understand the role of this construct in working issues, particularly in studies on work related stress.

The aim of this paper is to present a preliminary validation of an Italian adaptation of the HSE Management Standards Work-Related Stress Indicator Tool (IT), an instrument for assessing work-related stress at the organizational level, originally developed in Britain by the Health and Safety Executive. A scale that assesses the physical work environment has been added to the original version of the IT. 190 employees of the University of Trieste have been enrolled in the study. A confirmatory analysis showed a satisfactory fit of the eight-factors structure of the instrument. Further psychometric analysis showed adequate internal consistency of the IT scales and good criterion validity, as evidenced by the correlations with self-perception of stress, work satisfaction and motivation. In conclusion, the Indicator Tool proved to be a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of work-related stress at the organizational level, and it is also compatible with the instructions provided by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (Circular letter 18/11/2010).

This study is aimed at analyzing the structure of relations among blogs referring to Eating Disorders (ED). Through the use Of Social Network Analysis (SNA) we investigated both the groups and their structure in order to study the social processes within the network. A formal analysis of the ED blogs' characteristics has been carried out. This analysis provided us with information about network Centrality and Cohesion parameters. Results allow us to highlight the most relevant blogs in the network. Even if the extremely variable nature of the blogs does not allow to have a precise picture of the blogosphere referring to ED, this first attempt to apply SNA in this field allowed us to suggest interesting remarks about EBD both from the research and from the social perspective.

In 2007, the Health Councillorship of the Piedmont region announced, in convention with the Psychology Department of the University of Turin, of the creation of "Workgroup for Safeguard of Organizational Wellbeing" composed by psychologists, occupational doctors, and superintendents for Prevention and Protection services. This group is aimed at promoting pilot experiences in the Health Units in order to prevent and combat psychosocial discomfort and to sustain workers' wellbeing. A complex intervention started in January 2009 and involved the personnel from Services for the Organization and Development of Human Resources, Personnel Services, Services for Occupational Medicine, Services of Communication, Quality Services, belonging to all of the Health Units from Piedmont, and of some structures operating within the national health service, for a total of 23 work groups. Based on the results produced and/or from the shared reflections in the classroom between the 23 groups, four main themes were singled out, corresponding to different levels and fields of interventions, in order to favour the contrast of psychosocial distress and to promote a culture of wellbeing, were adopted taking into account needs and cultural specificity of different Units' realities. The activities embarked on, inside every main theme represent, in the expectations of all the participants, good practices that could be spread to the different Local Health Units.

Unlabelled: This study is an explorative research aiming to revise Schedule 5 of Cognitive Behavioural Assessment 2.0 (CBA), that is a reduced version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R). The main goal of this work is to adapt this inventory to the Big Five model by adding new items with good psychometric characteristics, according to the up-to-date Five-Factor personality model., Methods: These items were chosen on the basis of correlations between the scales of three personality inventories: EPQ-R, Neo Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) and International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) test. The questionnaires have been submitted to a sample of 159 subjects, aged 35 to 65., Results: First results confirm good indicators for the dimensions extraversion and Neuroticism, while Psychoticism did not exhibit significant correlations. Moreover, three dimensions in the NEO PI-R and IPIP test (Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness) showed good psychometric characteristics., Conclusions: To obtain a new revised form of CBA 2.0 Schedule 5, we suggest the substitution of Psychoticism with three more consistent dimensions belonging to both the NEO PI-R and IPIP test: Openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness. We also propose the new items for these dimensions to be selected from the short form of the NEO PI-R, the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), as such selection has been already validated.

The Italian legislative decree 81/08 requires stress risk evaluation for all the workers, including health personnel. The present paper compares two different occupational stress evaluation procedures, tested in two North Italy sanitary structures: a) the first through subjective methods, based on self report questionnaires and focus groups; b) the second through an objective approach, utilizing the OSFA (Objective Stress Factors Analysis) method. The comparison of the two experiences indicates that the subjective approach may present several limitations, since it gives a measure of the "felt" stress, not directly related to the nature of the job. On the other hand, the objective approach, and particularly the OSFA method, allows an analysis of the work conditions and the identification of single and specific aspects that can be ameliorated in order to eliminate or reduce the occupational stress sources.

The object of this task is to study the individual and contextual variables' influence on individual capacity to cope the work accident consequences. The instruments used are: Impact of Event Scale (IES), Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) and General Self-Efficacy (GSE). Sample consisted of 112 subjects with a mean age of 53 years, divided between Lazio (48%) and Sicily (52%) e with degree of worker invalidity inclusive among 30% and 100%. The results showed the indicative effect of the contextual variable "region" on intrusive symptoms; the indicative effect of the individual variable "years spent by work-accident" on scales Active coping, Humour, and factor Coping problem oriented; the indicative effect of the individual variable "degree of worker invalidity" on scale Acceptance; the indicative effect of the contextual variable "concomitant job to the accident" on scale Focus on and venting emotions; the indicative effect of the individual variable "degree of education" on scales Planning, Behavioral disengagement, Mental disengagement and factor Coping problem oriented and the GSE total score. Our investigation underlines work accident as potentially traumatic event for its unpredictability characterises and it suggests a few of coping strategies which are used frequently by work invalid to cope the event. This research is a way to turn the attention on the health and to encourage a great conscience of the factors which influence the way according to which workers-invalid cope the event of accident.

Recent developments in the studies on personal and organizational well-being efficaciously fit the issue of psycho-social risk assessment and its inherent implication for well-being promotion in the workplace. The advance in theory permits to define operative models for health and safety promotion and to project interventions directed to protect and to enhance workers' health and safety conditions. It will then be possible to move from the 'treatment model' to the 'health model' in workplaces. An example of the application of the new model is presented.

The OSFA (Objective Stress Factors Analysis) method is an approach to stress evaluation based on objective risk factors recording, according to the Italian law (legislative decree 81/08) as well as to national and international guidelines. The method evaluates the work conditions recognized as hazardous for the workers' psychophysical health. It comprises two main phases: phase A (company data analysis) and phase B (analysis of work-related stress conditions). Particularly, phase B is centred on the work conditions peculiar to the different organizational units, and it is conducted by means of structured interviews to experienced employees who know the specific company reality. The interviews, based on a 72 items questionnaire, take into consideration four main work aspects: organization, social environment, safety, and management. The final version of the instrument has been tested on 13 medium-small companies of Lumbardy (Italy), operating in various fields, with a number of employees ranging from 5 to 107 (median = 37). These first OSFA method experimentations allowed to verify its adequacy in relation to the exhaustiveness of the examined areas, the intelligibility of the items, and their capacity to discriminate the stress risk factors peculiar to the various productive activities. The preliminary results indicate that the described approach is easy to apply, and favourably accepted by employers and workers for its objectivity. Additionally, the OSFA method allows to plan preventive and ameliorative interventions, according to both the legislative decree 81/08 and the European agreement of October 8, 2004. Finally, the information obtained can represent the basis for a further stress risk evaluation through subjective evaluation methods.

Unlabelled: Acoustic neuromas are rare lesions arising in the internal auditory canal (IAC) and extending in the posterior cranial fossa. Surgical removal is the treatment of choice; peri and postoperative complications are directly related to the size of the tumour. Some Authors think the surgical treatment and related temporary or permanent neurological deficits could change the QoL and the psychological status., Purpose: The aim of this analysis is to ascertain if the surgical procedure could significantly worsen the QoL of this population 12 months after the discharge from surgical department., Methods: By using a questionnaires of Quality of Life aims to evaluate the impact that the disease and the surgical procedure have on this population., Subjects: We have evaluated a sample of 150 subjects one year after the surgical removal of a acoustic neuroma. Data have been collected through questionnaires the Whoqol-Brief, the BDI, the STAI Y1 and Y2 and specific item to assess effects of postoperative dysfunctions., Results: Data reveal a negative effect on QoL, 94% of the subjects show lower score at Whoquol-Brief and in anxiety with scores higher than normative score sample (state-anxiety (t = 5.602 p = .000; trait-anxiety: t = 4.354 p = .000). Higher incidence of depressive disorders have not been found., Conclusion: Psychological support to subjects after discharge from acoustic neuroma surgical removal should be tailored to improve quality of life and for a better management of anxiety.

The usability study of a software system aims at improving learning times and task execution, as well as decreasing the number of errors and increasing the user satisfaction. Goal of the present study is to assess the usability of a healthcare e-learning software in relationship with professional and personal variables. To eighty healthcare operators have been administered: a) a questionnaire for the assessment of their skills in using PCs and their opinions on e-learning; b) SUS and SUMI questionnaires for the evaluation of system usability; c) the LOC-L questionnaire, to assess the type of individual locus-of-control, either internal or external. The data analysis resulted in positive usability assessment for the system here considered. No relationship could be found between SUS scores and the number hours per week spent in using the PC, the experience and opinions of users on e-learning systems. Data from the LOC-L questionnaire show how usability scores are not influenced by the type of individual locus-of-control. The results here obtained show how SUS and SUMI questionnaires can be effectively employed to assess usability of an e-learning software system.

The main psychosocial purpose in treating childhood cancer is to help children and their families to face the diagnosis of cancer and subsequent consequences. Children and their families, most of whose are in front of this new diagnosis without showing any sign of failure, need our help. We should try from one side to help the child and his/her family who need a very quick support from us, from the other side a controlled and scientifically valid research, finalized to differentiate effective from non-effective interventions, should be carried on. The optimal clinical assistance is related to the application of the best discoveries nowadays available, based on evidence and applied in the local cultural context. The health care team can carefully listen to the children and their families to detect in which way they work and answer to the request of assistance that was offered to them. To modify own approach based on the level of satisfaction of families looking at the type of offered assistance could help in making better service.

Psychological assessment is a crucial and important part of psychologist's work. Despite this, tools utilized by clinicians are often inadequate and methods used to investigate and make decisions on the basis of collected data are even logically incorrect. In this paper two mathematical psychology theories (Knowledge Space Theory and Formal Concept Analysis) are employed to propose a method for collecting diagnostic information. The conjoint application of these two theories allows to build a hierarchical structure composed by diagnostic elements. This structure is very similar to the one determined by the clinical diagnostic process. Correct logical inferences on the patient's situation, and an exact depiction of those diagnostic elements presented or not by the patient, represent the potential advantages of such a methodology. An applicative example on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (using the background determined by two shared diagnostic tools i.e. DSM IV-TR and CBA 2.0) is presented. Finally, the opportunity to build an adaptive assessment procedure from the derived structure is investigated.

Engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. The main purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Data from a sample of health care workers (N=948) were used to test four propositions concerning dimensionality, internal consistency and construct validity. The UWES Italian version and the Multidimensional Organizational Health Questionnaire (MOHQ) were administered to the subjects (a subsample of 225 health care workers also completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory). The factorial structure has been examined through a series of Explorative Factor Analysis (AFE) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). As in the original version, we found a three factor solution. Internal consistency indexes were satisfactory. In addition, the correlations between UWES, MOHQ and MBI revealed a good construct validity. It is concluded that the Italian Version of the UWES has acceptable psychometric properties and that the instrument can be used in studies on positive organizational behavior.

Research on work stress has focused to date for the most part on the environmental and psychosocial factors inducing stress and great strides have been made in assisting both individuals and organizations in managing distress. This, however, is only half of the battle. As a complement to healing the wounded, there is need to explore models of intervention aimed at the promotion of well-being at work through the development and reinforcement of health-promoting factors. An important contribution toward this goal comes today from Positive Psychology, a new current of research focused on investigating the qualities and predictors that enable individuals to flourish. Within this perspective, health is seen not as the absence of disease and of risk factors but rather as the presence of those resources that underpin wellbeing. Among the new theoretical constructs emerging from Positive Psychology, of particular relevance to the domain of occupational health psychology is the notion of adult resilience. A definition of this notion is proposed and a review given of the main resources of resilience identified in the literature. Particular attention is given to the dimension of meaning, which seems to act as an important health-protector in the work setting. Resilience factors may also play a role in the implementing of interventions oriented both to distress prevention and wellbeing promotion. Establishing and maintaining an effective dialogue between researchers and practitioners in the field of work health promotion is strongly recommended.

The psychological syndrome of burnout in the helping professions has received much attention. Numerous studies have investigated the risk factors involved and their negative consequences for those whose work brings them into contact with people in states of physical and psychological suffering. In particular, emergency workers like police officers, fire-fighters and ambulance personnel who witness critical events are at high risk of developing negative psychological effects. Despite the ample literature investigating burnout in single emergency worker categories, currently there are few studies that deal with this topic from a comparative point of view, i.e. comparing the conditions of wellbeing of emergency workers across different organizations. The main aim of this pilot study was to compare different categories of emergency workers (83 ambulance workers, 42 operators of 118--free local health emergency service, 112 fire-fighters and 61 police officers) in order to identify which present a condition of wellbeing and which, on the contrary, may foster the burnout syndrome. Subjects were administered the Organizational Checkup System (OCS) to evaluate subjects' risk of burnout and their perception of their own work role and of their organizational environment. The second aim of this paper was to compare subjects on the basis of the main socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age and work seniority) in order to verify the presence of meaningful differences due, not just to the specific work category, but also to different subjective variables. The findings showed a condition of wellbeing, e.g. a high level of Energy and Involvement, in police officers as compared to 118 operators, who instead displayed a psychological state of burnout. Concerning the perception of organizational characteristics, fire-fighters displayed significant Control on tasks performed and good Social Integration in their work team. Furthermore, we noted the alignment of personal and organizational Values particularly among ambulance personnel and 118 operators. In conclusion, these findings could be useful in planning preventive interventions in the training and organization of the emergency workers tasks. In fact, the training process should give subjects a greater awareness of the psychological risks linked to their job and equip them with coping strategies; organizational actions should enhance job quality providing the workers with skills and tools to effectively manage daily working activities.

This paper examines a case of organizational change: the moving of a hospital to a new location. The change is considered in the light of two dimensions: the physical change from the old to the new structure ("logistic/physical change") and the change in the mode of working ("change in work-life"). The problem is to understand if, and how, these two change dimensions appear in the employees' (nurses and doctors) representation of the event. A theoretical framework was delineated based on three main constructs, i.e. an idea of organization as: a) the declination in time of the coordinated and interdependent employees' actions (course of decisions and actions); b) an ordering function of the course of decisions and actions rooted in the employee's cognitive schema ("context", "structure"); c) a set of meanings, at different levels, that constitute a common background and shared, in part, by the ordering function ("institutional frame"). A qualitative investigation was carried out, based on narrative in-depth interviews addressed to the top management of the different departments (SOC). A total of 34 medical and nurse managers were interviewed. Analysis of the interviews show that the discontinuous approach may be described according to five different "pure" types (as per Weber's theory). The five types are discussed within the above theoretical framework and in relation to their implications for organizational development.

A new questionnaire named CBA-VE (Cognitive Behavioral Assessment for outcome evaluation) was developed to evaluate psychological treatment intervention--especially for counseling and psychotherapy. The questionnaire has 80 items and a 5 point Likert-like scale ranging from 1 = nothing to 5 = a lot. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and the reliability of the five constructs of the questionnaire both in normal and clinical subjects. Participants. Two samples were analyzed: a "Normal" group composed of 250 normal adults plus 51 university students; and a "Clinical" group including 261 adults undergoing psychotherapy and psychological counseling provided by the public health service. The questionnaire includes five scales: three of them are related to important psychological aspects (anxiety, depression, and psychological distress); the remaining two are measurements of psychological wellbeing and self-perception of a positive change. The questionnaire has excellent psychometric characteristics, both for normal and clinical subjects. We observed a good reliability, good internal consistency, and an excellent structural validity for the five interrelated dimensions. The normalized factorial loadings are consistent, significant (from around 0.6 up), and similar in both the groups. The so-called Clinical group showed higher scores in anxiety, depression, and psychological distress and smaller scores in wellbeing and change perception. This is coherent with what the authors assumed a priori.

The aim of this study is to provide, to develop and validate, a new instrument for measuring alexithymia in the workplace. To develop and validate the MAQ in the Italian population, verifying its psychometric properties, we involved 585 participants, ranged from 16 to 33 of age, divided by gender and level of schooling. All participants completed MAQ which contained 108 items, and then Principal Components Analysis with Oblimin rotation was elaborated to understand latent structure of alexithymia. The study showed Alexithymia is composed by five dimensions: (1) difficulty to communicate, (2) to identify emotions, (3) and to manage time such as a coping style, (4) diffident attachment, (5) and pragmatic way to think. The psychometric properties of MAQ and internal consistency were demonstrated to be robust. Reliability analysis by Alpha was significant. Hence, MAQ could be useful in evaluating of the main traits involved in Alexithymia.

The trend towards community-based mental health services and the de-institutionalization of psychiatric patients has led to a clear shift of the caring burden from health and welfare services to the families. Studies that have addressed the effect of this burden on caregivers have mostly focused on the extent of psychological distress and its link with the psychiatric patient; only a few have addressed the risk that caregivers run of is two to three times higher in caregivers of psychiatric patients than in the general population. In particular, there is evidence that the rate of depressive symptoms among caregivers of severe psychiatric patients ranges from 38% to 60%; these family members often go untreated. There is a great need for intervention and research in this field, in order to effectively prevent and treat depressive symptoms and reduce burden in caregivers. We developed a manualized treatment program, based on a cognitive-behavioural approach and administered in two different group conditions, namely psychotherapy and mutual support. In this paper, we examine the relative efficacy of group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and mutual support group therapy (MST) in reducing depressive symptoms and caring burden. Caregivers depressed or at risk of depression (N = 40) were randomly assigned to a CBT or a MST group, led respectively by 2 psychotherapists and 1 psychologist-facilitator. Before and after intervention, all participants were individually assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory and Family Problems questionnaire. Both the CBT and MST therapies produced reductions in depression score, though in the MST groups the trend was not significant. Nevertheless, analysis of the clinical significance of change in the BDI score for each subject showed an improvement in 58.3% of depressed caregivers treated with CBT and in 45.4% of those treated with MST. Differently from CBT, MST produced an improvement in two dimensions of family burden.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate defence mechanisms and personality characteristics in obese subjects. In particular, we compared the use of defence mechanisms in two groups: obese persons vs. normal weight subjects. We also compared the defence mechanisms and personality characteristics of two groups of obese subjects: those with Binge Eating Disorder vs. those without this disorder. Finally, we investigated the presence of possible differences linked to gender or to age of onset of obesity., Methods: 93 obese subjects and 68 normal weight subjects were administered a test battery composed of the following self-complete questionnaires (in the Italian version): Binge Eating Scale, Response Evaluation Measure-71, Eating Disorder Inventory-2 and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)., Results: Obese subjects appear to use specific defence mechanisms. A gender effect was found on the use of defence mechanisms, on the psychological characteristics associated to an Eating Disorder and on personality features. Obese subjects with Binge Eating Disorder showed a marked tendency to manifest anxiety and bulimic behaviour. Obesity with onset in adolescence was associated with the possibility of developing drug dependence., Conclusion: Specific defence characteristics and personality features in obese subjects should be taken into account in designing a slimming program.

The clinical cases of psychosocial disturbances that the Occupational Doctors find in their daily activity frequently are characterized by difficult differential diagnosis. These cases frequently must be faced with limitations of the work ability not easy to define and with unclear prognosis too. A useful help in the evaluation of these cases can be offered by the Clinical Units for the evaluation of work related stress, for the specialized joined support of Psychologist and of Occupational Doctors these Units can assure. We report the protocols of diagnosis of our clinical unit and the main characteristics of the patients more recently evaluated.

This study investigated, in a sample of 483 adolescent girls, a number of risk factors associated with Binge Eating (BE) disorder, i.e. negative feelings, dieting behaviour, social influence and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the following questionnaires: Bulimia Test, Depression Questionnaire, Dieting Self-Efficacy Measure, Dieting Success, Dieting Status Measure, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, Eating Disorder Inventory, Positive and Negative Affect Scale Revised, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Socio-cultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used in the data analysis to verify the hypothesized relations among the variables, with the aim of identifying the main predictors of BE. This methodology explains the correlation between the considered variables, and determines, using quantitative good fit indexes, both the strength of the correlations and the plausibility of the causal links between the hypothesized factors. Our findings confirm that negative feelings (Negative Affect) are the primary predictor for the maintenance of BE and highlight the significant role played by Social Influence. While Dieting Behaviour is not a primary predictor for the maintenance of BE it appears to influence it through its link with Negative Affect.

The aim of the study is to supply a contribution to the validity analysis of the Empowering Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) in the Italian context. The ELQ has been developed in order to measure empowering leadership style in organizational contexts and, in the present work, has been administered to a group of health care workers in order to evaluate the Nurse Manager's leadership style. Three hundred and eleven individuals from an important Local Health Unit of the Veneto Region participated in the study, filling out a self-administered structured questionnaires. Correlations between ELQ, task-oriented, relationship-oriented and transformational leadership stile are addressed. Moreover, the relationships between ELQ, organizational commitment, job burnout, turnover intentions and job satisfaction are analyzed. Exploratory, confirmatory, reliability analyses and path analyses techniques are applied. Results support the main results obtained by the authors of the scale. In addition, with regards to ELQ predictive validity, the selected dependent variables (turnover intentions and job satisfaction) are significantly influenced by some of the ELQ dimensions, via the mediation of affective commitment and job burnout, supporting the value of the ELQ measures in the healthcare context.

The present study investigated the relationship between job characteristics and well-being dimensions (burnout and somatic complaints) in a group of 271 nurses. The study, based on Karasek and Theorell's theoretic model of demand-control-social support, aimed to test the following hypotheses: (a) that there is a linear association between each job dimension (demand, control, social support) and indexes of stress (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment and somatization); (b) whether there is an additive or interactive ("buffer") action among the model variables in predicting stress. Concerning the hypothesis of linearity, regression analysis revealed two non-linear associations: between job control and emotional exhaustion, and between social support and the level of somatic symptoms. Concerning the second hypothesis, controlling for age and gender, results of hierarchical regression indicated that job control and social support combine in different additive patterns with job demands to explain outcomes of well-being. Findings confirmed the significant role of socio-demographic variables (age and gender) in predicting occupational strain.

Impulsiveness is multifactorial in nature; hence, to investigate its components diverse theoretical models supported by different measurement tools have been proposed. Attention has been particularly focused on the effects that impulsiveness can have in determining and/or maintaining a behaviour of dependence. In the present study a group of subjects with alcohol dependence in treatment (N = 20) were compared with a control group (N = 21); the two groups were administered three different instruments designed to investigate the dimension of impulsiveness. A significant difference was found concerning the performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. This is a test that simulates a gambling situation and so evaluates the capacity to discern, in a decisional task, advantageous vs. non-advantageous options, where the former permit an immediate modest gain but also a future modest loss while the latter carry a heavier penalty than they allow to gain, even if the gains are very big. The alcoholics persisted in making impulsive choices significantly more than the control group, preferrng thus the higher wins but risking also greater losses. This result, in line with what is reported by the present contributions on the decisional style of subjects characterized by drug abuse, may be important in understanding the factors that predispose to and maintain excessive drinking behaviour.

Akrasia is a philosophical concept that denotes the tendency to act in contradiction with one's best judgement. This study aimed to clarify the phenomenon in psychological terms through a working construct drawn from the available philosophical and sociological literature. After redefining akrasia in terms more appropriate to cognitive science, the authors designed a self-description test suitable for measuring the latent dimensions hypothetically related to the akratic process. The questionnaire was administered to a group of 197 subjects aged between 18 and 60 years and the collected data underwent a confirmatory factorial analysis involving Structural Equations Models. The successive verification of the instrument's reliability and coherence showed the questionnaire to be a good indicator of the construct examined and confirmed that akratic behaviour--as the authors have defined it--is in fact explained by the factors which emerged.

While diverse studies carried out in nursing and medical personnel have demonstrated that health workers can be subject to burnout, little effort has been focused on investigating burnout in volunteer hospital workers. The aim of the present study was to verify if burnout exists with volunteer auxiliary personnel and investigate what organizational conditions may favour it. The study was carried out on 80 volunteer workers of the Red Cross of Mortara (PV), subdivided into two categories: those performing emergency interventions and those performing routine services. For the evaluation of burnout, the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used, together with a qualitative type of methodology. A 5-factor multivariate analysis (sex x shift x team x seniority x role), having as dependent variables the three scales of the MBI, showed that the highest values of depersonalization and fulfillment are found in the emergency team, and that subjects with least seniority are those who are least satisfied or fulfilled. The category of team-leader resulted as that with the highest values of emotional burnout, while sex- and shift-based differences were restricted to routine service workers. Despite these differences, findings showed that subjects are minimally affected by problems linked to burnout, although some relational and organizational difficulties emerged with the medical staff that underlie a certain degree of professional dissatisfaction.

The development of a new measure to investigate risk perception in afield setting as building was the aim of this work. Workers' cognitive representation of risk and relation among ris perception, risk-acceptance and risk taking was the goals of the measure. The methodological approach for the measure development was the psychometric paradigm (Fischhoff, Slovic, Lichtenstein, Read e Combs, 1978). A first data collection in field context demonstrates measure's validity and reliability.

Regarding the seriousness of work-accident in Gorizia district, various organizations as ASL 2 "Isontina" (local health agency), INAIL of Friuli Venezia Giulia (National Institute for occupational accident insurance), trade unions and trade associations created a organization called "Observatory for Working-accidents and Professional Illness Prevention". The aim of this association is the promotion of safety in working environment. Diffusing importance of safety in building trade was the first projects of Observatory. So, Observatory carried an initiative to make more aware the workers. Than, it organized training courses for building workers. Moreover, the construction of an informative pamphlet on risks in building trade was made. For some experimental investigation, Observatory works with Department of Psychology, University of Trieste.

Unlabelled: Psychological stress and coping strategies in staff working with AIDS patients were assessed using self report methods., Measures: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Coping Orientations to Problems Experiences (COPE), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Depression Questionnaire (DQ) were completed by staff from 20 hospitals of North-Center Italy, including 329 doctors and nurses working with people with AIDS. The results suggested important correlations among burnout, coping style, depression and anxiety. Inadequate strategies used as Focusing on and Venting of emotion, Behavioral Disengagement and depression predicted high level of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization, while Personal Accomplishment were predicted by more adequate strategies (Planning, Restrain coping and Seeking social support) and low level of anxiety.

A monotonous, automated task of prolonged duration performed on a computer is likely to increase the propensity to sleep. Present research shows the physiological effect is not perceived by the subjects in terms of drowsiness or a change of mood. This augments the risk of this effect causing unforeseeable bouts of sleep during the performance of the task.