Search

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of the processes of a Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) citizenship education project by examining a 2-year intervention that involved 43 Italian high school students. We collected qualitative data (focus groups with students and interviews with teachers) to capture participants’ perspectives, as well as longitudinal quantitative data to monitor the process over time (assessing school climate, perceived quality of participation, and group participation norms). The results revealed that YPAR was successful in reducing hierarchy, facilitating group activities, and recognizing youth voice, thus changing students’ perception of their school environment and views on participation and active citizenship. The intervention also changed teachers’ perceptions of students. YPAR proved to be a suitable option for citizenship education in school.

Prior studies revealed that low levels of youth political activity are not necessarily indicative of complete disengagement from societal affairs but could be accompanied by interest and latent involvement stemming from a standby or monitorial attitude. However, no prior study has investigated patterns of citizenship orientations including both manifest and latent engagement defined by one’s position towards institutional politics, according to different forms of participation. A questionnaire was filled out by 1,732 late adolescents and young adults in Italy (15–30 years old, M = 19.73, 60.7% female). Cluster analysis identified six profiles of citizenship orientations across different types of participatory activities (political, activist, political online and civic): active trustful, active distrustful, standby trustful, standby distrustful, unengaged trustful and unengaged distrustful. The results showed that each level of engagement—active, standby and unengaged—could be further differentiated between trustful and distrustful based on their attitude towards institutions and the electoral process.

Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) is a theoretical–methodological approach that has been designed to promote positive development (e.g., well-being and health, social–emotional and cognitive development, academic or career advancement) and civic engagement among young people. Although YPAR holds particular promise, there has been little systematic assessment of its effects. Moreover, no study has investigated the role of YPAR in the promotion of active citizenship. We report on an effectiveness evaluation of a YPAR project designed to promote European active citizenship (i.e., identification and attitudes toward a political entity, institutional trust, participation, and political alienation) and social well-being among adolescents. Our sample included 69 Italian high school students (35 in the intervention group; 34 in the control group). We evaluated the impact of YPAR using a pretest–posttest control group design and fitting the generalized estimating equations procedure. The results showed that participants in the intervention group reported increased scores on social well-being, institutional trust, and participation and decreased scores on political alienation compared with the control group. We found no significant effects for identification as European and attitudes toward a political entity. Findings support the benefits of YPAR in terms of social well-being and active citizenship.

This qualitative study examines how young people of Moroccan descent in Italy construct their social identities and make sense of acculturation experiences. Twenty nine Moroccan young people, fourteen males and fifteen females (16–23 years old) took part in five focus groups. Thematic analyses of data indicated that participants have to navigate different identity categories in the host country, including Muslim, Moroccan, and migrant, which are often used to construct them as not belonging. They use different strategies to negotiate experiences of prejudice and exclusion including; “Italy is not my home… it is other people’s home”: Accommodating an outsider status, turning critically towards one’s community, claiming an insider status: Feeling Italian, Creating activist identities: Becoming bridge builders. In the absence of legal status, participants conceived citizenship as respecting Italian laws and norms, accommodating their status and position, but making claims based on being and feeling as belonging – cultural citizenship. By using a liberation orientation, our analysis shows the political nature of acculturative integration in a context that denies citizenship as a legal status. These political aspects include deconstructing exclusionary dominant group narratives and forming identities of resistance that are important to their claims for recognition and belonging. We discuss the findings with reference to ways in which researchers and activists can support the activities of young people of immigrant background.

Cross-border mobility has long been seen as a mechanism to promote a collective political identity; however, the results of empirical studies on young people have been inconsistent. The present work extends previous research on the effect of cross-border mobility by considering the effect of cross-border friendships drawing on the intergroup contact theory of Allport as well as the common ingroup identity model of Gaertner and Dovidio. This longitudinal study examines the role of cross-border friendships in the development of a sense of transnational political community that transcends national boundaries, i.e. the European Union. The results rely on a two-wave sample of 1294 Italian adolescents and young adults. Cross-border friendships significantly predicted identification as European, attitudes toward the European Union, political beliefs about the European Union, trust in the European Union, (negatively) political alienation, and political participation at the European level and intention to vote at the next European Parliament elections, even after including baseline levels of outcomes as well as relevant socio-demographic factors (i.e. gender, age, majority/minority status, educational qualification, parents’ education level, family income, and socioeconomic status) in the model.

The topic of youth participation in the public sphere has received increasing attention within recent psychological research. The literature remains somewhat fragmented between different conceptualizations varying in their specificity or broadness. The present study aims to map the current state of debate in psychology regarding youth civic and political participation and to identify the prevalent themes that characterize the research in the discipline from 1990 to 2016. A semantic content analysis with the software T-Lab was performed on a corpus of 1,777 publications retrieved from the PsycInfo database. The results highlight the increasing number of academic contributions on the topic, confirming the growing importance of the issue within psychology. The study sheds light on the spheres of participation, in which the discipline has attempted to make a contribution, namely: traditional and online political context, institutional civic education, adolescent development, and rights-based activism. Moreover, the findings reveal the existing opposing priorities of research that focus either on the explanation of specific forms of involvement or on the formation of future citizens. Within the thematic attention to young people’s civic and political development, there seem to be two general approaches that see youth in divergent ways: as citizens whose civic capacities are to be fostered or as targets for top-down training interventions. This systematic thematic review calls attention to the disparate ways in which youth participation is being addressed in psychology and highlights the need for greater theoretical integration in the field of study.

A substantial amount of literature has revealed gender gaps in political participation. However, little is known about such gaps when using more comprehensive measures of civic and political participation including online participation. In the present study, we recruited a sample (n = 1792) of young people living in Italy. Controlling for age, majority/minority status, socioeconomic status, respondents’ educational attainment, and parents’ educational attainment, we found that female participants reported higher scores on online and civic participation, while male participants were more likely to report political and activist participation. The effect size for these gender differences was small. In addition, we did not find any gender differences in voting behavior in the last European parliamentary elections, national parliamentary elections, and local elections. These findings highlight the need to move toward a more comprehensive and detailed picture of gender gaps in political engagement and participation including different types of participation.

Negli ultimi decenni, la ricerca psicologica si e avvalsa sempre di piu di strumenti informatici per la statistica testuale. T-LAB rappresenta un esempio di software modulare, costituito da un insieme di strumenti linguistici, statistici e grafici per l’analisi dei testi. Il software include un cospicuo numero di funzioni e negli ultimi anni e diventato piu popolare in diverse discipline scientifiche. Tuttavia, ad oggi non esistono delle indicazioni stringenti e specifiche rispetto al suo possibile impiego in psicologia della salute, poiche esso dipende principalmente dalla domanda di ricerca, dal modello teorico di riferimento e dal tipo di materiale utilizzato. Obiettivo del presente studio era quello di indagare le prassi di applicazione del software nel campo della psicologia della salute. Tramite una rassegna degli articoli pubblicati dal 2004 al 2016 in importanti riviste di questo settore (Psicologia della Salute, Journal of Health Psychology, Psychology Health & Medicine, Health Psychology Open), sono stati individuati 17 articoli (full-text) che si sono avvalsi del software T-LAB. I risultati mostrano una tipologia molto varia di materiali testuali analizzati. Molte delle ricerche in esame avevano un obiettivo di carattere esplorativo (coerente con un approccio qualitativo) e si e avvalsa di un numero limitato di funzioni rispetto a quelli disponibili in T-LAB. La discussione dei risultati fornisce alcune utili indicazioni sul valore aggiunto derivante dall’utilizzo di strumenti per l’analisi automatica dei testi e suggerimenti per gli sviluppi futuri.

Collective action is typically studied in social protest contexts and predicted by different motivations (i.e., ingroup identification and efficacy beliefs, and outgroup-directed anger). Assuming that voting to some extent reflects a form of collective action, we tested whether these three different motivations predicted voting in Dutch, Israeli, and Italian national election contexts. Based on previous meta-analyses on voting and collective action, we hypothesized that identification with and efficacy beliefs regarding this party would motivate voting across the different elections (i.e., context-independent effects). As for anger, we predicted more context-dependent effects, depending on whether the anger is targeting the previous government or at the political system at large. Results were largely in line with predictions, showing the relatively context-independent motivational power of party identification and efficacy beliefs, and clearly context-dependent effects for anger. Specifically, we found little support for a similar motivational power of anger targeting previous government policies, but anger targeting politics in general demotivated Dutch and Israeli participants to vote (interpreted as an expression of political cynicism), while curiously motivating Italian participants to vote (interpreted as a desire for system change from “old” to “new” politics). We discuss these findings in the context of voting in national elections, and recommend further integration of the voting and social protest literatures.

Cross-border mobility is one of the most important factors that are assumed to strengthen young people’s commitment as European citizens. However, the existing empirical evidence does not provide consistent support. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that cross-border mobility is associated with a stronger European identification, more positive attitudes toward the EU, and with specific visions of the EU, and that these factors, in turn, have a positive effect on engagement at EU level. Data were collected as part of the multinational research project CATCH-EyoU. Analyses were performed controlling for gender, income, country, and migrant status. Results mostly confirmed the hypotheses among both adolescents and young adults, and for both short-term and long-term mobility. EU level participation and EU voting intentions appeared to be influenced by partly different factors. The implications of the findings, both at theoretical level and for the development of international mobility programs, are discussed.

Objectives: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease which can affect any organ in the body, reducing patients' health-related quality of life (HR-QOL). Psychosocial research on SLE is quite recent and is mostly based on qualitative and cross-sectional evidence. Some studies suggest that a protective role is played by perceived self-efficacy in the management of the disease, while a detrimental role is played by problematic social interactions. Methods: In a longitudinal study, we tested the independent contribution of self-efficacy and problematic social support, in predicting patients' HR-QOL after 11 months. An online questionnaire was completed by 162 participants with SLE, the second questionnaire after 11 months. Results: Controlling for corticosteroids and hydroxychloroquine use, self-efficacy in the management of the disease at Time 1 showed a significant and positive effect on HR-QOL at Time 2, while problematic social support (denying/uninformed) showed a negative effect. Conclusions: HR-QOL of SLE patients is influenced by self-efficacy in the management of the disease and problematic support. Specific attention should be paid to the quality of patients' social relationships and their perceived efficacy in the management of the disease in focused interventions as in daily clinical practice.

The aim of the study was to develop and to assess the psychometric properties of the Problematic Support Scale, among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. An online questionnaire was filled in by 344 systemic lupus erythematosus patients with a mean age of 39.66 years. Explorative factor analysis, later validated by confirmative factor analysis, showed the emergence of a two-factor structure in types of support provided: denying/uninformed support and oppressive support. Denying/uninformed support includes offers of support that neglect the disease manifestations and consequences. Oppressive support describes social support offers which are perceived as excessive and oppressive. Results confirm previous qualitative evidence and demonstrate good reliability and concurrent validity of the Problematic Support Scale. Theoretical and methodological implications for the study of social support are discussed.

The presence of young people as engaged active citizens in the political scenario seems to be declining in recent years all over Europe. However, whereas many young people are disinterested in politics and political participation, others are active political actors involved in new patterns of engagement and actions of participation. What are the factors leading some youth to be politically active and others not? There are multiple explanations for this phenomenon, and it is crucial for the future of citizens’ democratic participation to understand the position that young people might take between apathy and participation. The present chapter aims to contribute to this focusing on the psychosocial factors and processes that facilitate and hinder youth’s political and civic engagement with particular attention to the new forms of participation and engagement, including digital ones, that youngsters adopt to have their voice heard at national and European levels.

We assume that emotions (anger, shame and hope) mediate the relationship between perceiving a discriminatory context and civic/political engagement. Results of a survey with 1242 participants (mean age 20.7 years; 53% men; 32.8% migrants) showed that such emotions play a different role according to the type of engagement and the population (native Italians versus migrants). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Patient engagement is recognized as a crucial component of high-quality healthcare services. Among rheumatic diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) appears particularly challenging for the engagement of patients in their own care. According to the patient health engagement (PHE) model, patient engagement is a dynamic phenomenon that proceeds through four experiential positions (blackout, arousal, adhesion and eudaimonic project). The aim of the present study was to describe the engagement process from the point of view and the experiences of SLE patients. Ten in-depth interviews and four focus groups were conducted with an international sample of SLE patients from different European countries. Transcripts were analysed through thematic content analysis. Findings showed that a fully engaged patient results from reframing emotional, cognitive and behavioural dimensions. The advances along the process depends on how the patient succeeds in each position. In conclusion, PHE represents an appropriate model by which to understand the engagement process of SLE patients. In order to meet patients' needs, healthcare providers and patient support groups should consider the specific position of SLE patients, providing adequate and tailored support.

Background and aims Patient engagement is recognised as a crucial component of high-quality healthcare services. Among rheumatic diseases, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) appears particularly challenging for the engagement of patients in their own care. According to the Patient Health Engagement (PHE) model, patient engagement is a dynamic phenomenon that proceeds through four experiential positions (blackout, arousal, adhesion, and eudaimonic project). The aim of the present study was to describe the engagement process through the experiences of SLE patients. Methods Ten in-depth interviews and four fous group were conducted with an international sample of SLE patients from different European countries. Interviews focused on several aspect of patients‘ life with SLE and their relationship with the healthcare system. Transcripts were analysed through thematic content analysis. Results The mean age of the participants to the study was 40.6 years (±10.0). The average years since diagnosis were 15.5 (SD=8.6) with great variability in terms of disease manifestations. Findings showed that a fully engaged patient results from reframing emotional, cognitive, and behavioural dimensions. The advances along the process depends on how the patient succeeds in each position. Conclusions PHE represents a appropriate model to understand the engagement process of SLE patients. In order to meet patients needs, healthcare providers should consider the specific position of SLE patients, providing adequate and tailored support.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of sport activity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of solid organ transplant recipients participating in sports competitions. A group of 168 sportive transplanted patients (STP), a group of 97 nonsportive transplanted patients (NSTP), and a group of 152 sportive healthy controls (SHC) were compared on the eight scales of the SF-36 questionnaire. STP and NSTP reported significantly lower scores than SHC on the physical functioning scale. STP did not differ from SHC in the Role-Physical, General Health, and Vitality scales, while NSTP reported significantly lower scores. STP obtained higher scores than NSTP and SHC on Mental Health. Among STP, the effect of quantity of sport activity was significant on General Health and Role Emotional, with more sport activity associated with higher HRQoL. Organ failure and post-transplant therapies may have negative consequences on HRQoL. Sports activities and participation in sports competitions can reduce this impact, improving general and psychological functioning of solid organ transplant recipients.

The aim of this cross-national study was to assess the relationships among sense of community (SoC) vis-a-vis the residential community (i.e., one's home town), identity formation processes, and feelings of loneliness toward parents and peers. The sample included 431 Italian adolescents (59.4% females) and 221 Belgian (Flemish) adolescents (54.3% females) aged 14–23 years. Results indicate that the more adolescents developed firm and sustained commitments, the more they developed positive feelings toward the residential community. SoC toward the home town is lower among youth in less advanced identity statuses. Parent- and peer-related loneliness differentially predicted Italian and Belgian adolescents’ SoC. Results have significant theoretical and methodological implications for the study of SoC, identity, and loneliness.

Because individuals' fundamental right to water is often taken for granted, little is known about why individuals participate in water activism. We examine how individuals identify with and intend to participate in the Italian Water Movement to defend the “public management” of water supply. Building on the collective-action literature, we test an explanatory model in which the perceived violation of the right to water and group and participative-efficacy beliefs increase movement identification, which predicts subsequent activism. Study 1 (N = 153 activists) largely confirmed our hypotheses: right violation and participative efficacy uniquely influenced movement identification, which in turn predicted activism. Study 2 corroborated these findings by employing a broader sample of 132 Italian citizens, with right violation, participative and group-efficacy beliefs predicting movement identification, which in turn predicted activism. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Il disturbo renale e i relativi trattamenti possono compromettere le attivita quotidiane dei pazienti; tuttavia non e ancora chiaro l’impatto che essi producono sulla qualita della vita (QoL) e il ruolo giocato dai processi psicosociali. Il primo obiettivo di questo lavoro era valutare, mediante questionario selfreport, la QoL (misurata con il WHOQOL-Breve) e il benessere psicologico di un campione di pazienti con insufficienza renale cronica in rapporto ad alcune variabili sociodemografiche (genere, eta) e alla condizione terapeutica (emodialisi, dialisi peritoneale, post-trapianto). In secondo luogo, nei pazienti in dialisi si voleva verificare l’impatto di alcune variabili psicosociali, quali le rappresentazioni della malattia, le strategie di coping e la rete sociale supportiva, sulla QoL e sul benessere psicologico. Il campione e composto da 104 pazienti in dialisi (emodialisi e peritoneale) e 34 che hanno ricevuto il trapianto di reni. I pazienti dializzati evidenziano livelli di QoL inferiori a coloro che hanno ricevuto un trapianto di rene, in diverse aree della QoL, mentre le differenze in base al tipo di dialisi non risultano statisticamente significative. I risultati indicano che, nei pazienti in dialisi, una visione della malattia come controllabile, l’uso di stili di coping attivi e la percezione di un’ampia rete sociale supportiva sono fattori che favoriscono la QoL. I risultati dello studio hanno importanti implicazioni sul versante clinico e della prevenzione.

I conflitti che nascono nell’ambito delle relazioni di vicinato rappresentano un problema che pone diverse "sfide" agli psicologi di comunità interessati a promuovere la buona convivenza fra i cittadini, obiettivo centrale delle politiche di inclusione sociale e di contrasto alla povertà e alla marginalità sociale. Nel presente contributo, dopo aver discusso brevemente le ricerche sulle relazioni di vicinato, viene descritto un intervento di mediazione sociale realizzato nel territorio di Cesena volto a gestire e prevenire i conflitti, presentando i dati di una ricerca effettuata per valutare i bisogni del territorio e l’impatto dell’intervento effettuato.

In many communities, supplying water and sanitation is a huge task, and the fact that these essential services can be carried out by the private sector is a debated issue. This article presents an exploratory study aimed to identify the range of motives for collective action shared by activists of the Italian Movement for ‘Public Water’. In-depth interviews were conducted with 28 activists and were qualitatively analysed. Five main motivational categories emerged: defending the right to water, preserving community ties, opposing to the Government and ‘water sellers’, preserving the environment and money interests. Each motive is based on a specific representation of the issue of water and privatization process. Findings provide further support for the importance of moral convictions and sense of community in collective action development and suggest a critical reconsideration of the role played by collective efficacy. The results are discussed in the framework of the psychosocial literature on collective action and community psychology perspectives on participatory processes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Attraverso una breve rassegna della letteratura, questo articolo si propone di descrivere tre principali approcci che hanno indagato il ruolo delle convinzioni morali nello sviluppo dell'azione collettiva, concettualizzandole, rispettivamente, come un incentivo selettivo per la partecipazione, come parte di un’ideologia condivisa, e come principio inviolabile. Dopo aver descritto brevemente la cornice teorica e concettuale in cui ciascun approccio si è sviluppato, verrà presa in esame la specifica operazionalizzazione delle convinzioni morali utilizzata dalle ricerche empiriche e vengono quindi presentati i principali risultati ottenuti. Nella seconda parte dell’articolo, i tre approcci presentati vengono discussi delineandone i possibili punti di convergenza e criticità, allo scopo di individuare possibili linee di ricerca future.

The aim of this study was to investigate, among members of a large cooperative company, the role of worker status (partner vs. employee), length of service, and cooperative values in influencing organizational identification (OI) and organizational sense of community (OSC). The study involved the totality of members of the cooperative (N = 805; 67.7% partners, 32.3% employees), who completed a self-administered questionnaire, measuring perceived cooperative values, OI, OSC, and, among partners, identification as a partner. The results indicate that partners, more than employees, perceived the cooperative as living up to its core values and scored higher on OI and OSC. The impact of worker status on OI and OSC was mediated by perceived cooperative values.

Research examining youths' political development mostly focused on young people as a general group; comparatively less attention has been devoted to the examination of gender pathways toward citizenship. Two studies were conducted addressing (a) the role of parents' participation and the moderating role of adolescent gender and age group (n = 1419) and (b) the role of adolescent social and civic participation and the moderating role of adolescent gender and type of school (n = 1871). Results confirmed the gender gap in political interest and in the use of the Internet for political participation, while no differences emerged for political activity and voting intentions. Adolescents' political engagement and participation are influenced by parents' participation (especially among girls) and by adolescents' social and civic participation (especially among boys). The impact of adolescents' social and civic participation on conventional participation (voting intentions) is partially mediated by sense of community and institutional trust.

This reprinted article originally appeared in International Journal of Stress Management, 2011, Vol. 18, No. 2, 181–195. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-02944-001.) Fire-fighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians routinely confront potentially traumatic events in the course of their jobs. The mediation role of coping strategies and collective efficacy in the relationship between stress appraisal and quality of life was examined (compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout) in a correlational study. Participants were 463 Italian rescue workers (fire fighters and different categories of emergency health care professionals). Participants filled out measures of stress appraisal, collective efficacy, coping strategies, and quality of life. The results showed that emotion and support coping, self-blame coping, and self-distraction mediated the relationship between stress appraisal and compassion fatigue. Moreover, collective efficacy, self-blame coping, and religious coping mediated the relationship between stress appraisal and burnout. Finally, collective efficacy, self-blame coping, and problem-focused coping mediated the relationship between stress appraisal and compassion satisfaction. Cognitive restructuring and denial did not mediate the relation between stress appraisal and any of the quality of life dimensions.

This study examined age and gender differences in coping strategies used by adolescents (N = 342; age = 14–19 years) in dealing with everyday minor stressors. Relationships with coping resources (self-efficacy, social support) and the impact of coping on psychological well-being were assessed. Coping strategies were measured using the Coping Across Situations Questionnaire (CASQ; Seiffge-Krenke, 1995). Results showed that adolescents’ coping strategies differed according to problem domain. The most frequently used strategies were active and internally focused. Females used a wider range of coping strategies than did males. Significant correlations were found among coping strategies and coping resources. Moreover, the adoption of some strategies significantly affected adolescents’ psychological well-being. jasp_726 559..578

The role of conflict in parent–adolescent relationships is a topic of considerable theoretical debate and empirical investigation; however, limited attention has been devoted to the strategies used by family members to deal with disagreements and their outcomes and how they differ from early to late adolescence. This study explored conflict styles and outcomes in a sample of 302 families with adolescent children (total N = 906), of two age groups (13‐year‐olds and 15‐year‐olds). One hundred sixty‐four adolescents (45.7%) are female. Participants completed the ‘when we disagree’ scales. Results from both adolescents and parents confirmed the intensification of conflict from early to middle adolescence, in terms of conflict style (higher aggression, lower compromise) and outcome (lower intimacy). Age trends differ according to gender; in particular, there is evidence of a more difficult position of older girls, and of the worsening of mother–adolescent relationship from early to middle adolescence.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the parent version of “When We Disagree” scales (WWD), measuring the style of conflict (aggression and compromise) within parent–adolescent relationship. Differences according to adolescent gender and age, and according to perspective (description of self and description of the adolescent) were assessed. Concurrent validity was established by correlations with family communication and parenting self-efficacy. Participants include 302 mother–father dyads with adolescent children (13 and 15 years old; total n = 604). Results confirmed the usefulness of the WWD in assessing conflict styles as perceived by parents. Correlations with family communication and parenting self-efficacy were in the expected direction. There was evidence of a more conflicting relationship between female adolescents and mothers. Adolescents are described by parents as less compromising and more aggressive than self.

Sense of Community (SoC) is a key theoretical construct in community psychology. This study validated a SoC scale for adolescents (SoC-A) in Italy. The scale comprises 20 items and five components: satisfaction of needs and opportunities for involvement; support and emotional connection with peers; support and emotional connection in the community; sense of belonging; and opportunities for influence. The sample included 661 Italian high school students (47% male and 53% female) between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. Factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed five components corresponding to the original work of Cicognani, Albanesi, and Zani (2006). The boys scored higher on SoC than girls. There were no differences between age groups. Results showed differences in SoC between types of schools (lycee, vocational and technical institutes).

This article presents and discusses the evaluation of the participatory process involved in the Local Plans for Health (LPH) of the Region Emilia-Romagna (North Italy). LPH are three-year plans of action that actively engage community members in collaborative decision making over health promotion interventions. The evaluation study conducted on the LPH 2001-2003 of Cesena, using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, involved 34 community stakeholders, who took part in three focus groups. Themes discussed centered on the difficulties encountered in engaging all relevant community members, how to overcome such difficulties, and how to best communicate the results of the evaluation process to the population. Process evaluation was a central component of the planning of future plans.

This study, involving a sample of 764 emergency workers, investigates dimensions of quality of life at work (Compassion fatigue, Burnout and Compassion satisfaction), and their relationships with Coping strategies and some psychosocial variables (Sense of Community, Collective Efficacy and Self-efficacy). Results indicate the usefulness of distinguishing between positive and negative indicators of emergency workers’ quality of life. Compassion satisfaction is positively correlated with efficacy beliefs, Sense of Community and the use of Active coping strategies. Burnout and Compassion fatigue are especially correlated with the use of dysfunctional coping strategies like distraction and self-criticism. Volunteer emergency workers enjoy a higher well being than full-time professional workers. Results and their implications for interventions aimed at increasing rescue workers’ quality of life by enhancing psychosocial competences are discussed.

Aim of the study was to assess the relationship between social participation and Sense of Community in a sample of University students and the impact of such variables on Social well being. A further aim was to assess the generality of the relationships between these constructs across different countries, and specifically, the USA, Italy and Iran. The sample includes 200 Italian, 125 American and 214 Iranian University students, male and female. Results show higher levels of social participation, Sense of Community and Social well being among American students. Sense of Community is positively correlated with social participation in all three samples; however, only among Italian students social participation positively predicts Social well being. Implications of results will be discussed.

This study investigates the relationship between sense of community, civic engagement and social well-being in a sample of Italian adolescents. Participants were 14–19 year-old high school students (N = 566) from two demographically distinct cities. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing sense of community, social well-being (Keyes, 1998), involvement in structured group activities (group membership) and civic engagement. Results showed that involvement in formal groups is associated with increased civic involvement and increased sense of community. Sense of community predicts social well-being and explains some of the association between civic engagement and social well-being. Findings suggest that, to increase social well-being, it is important to provide adolescents with more opportunities to experience a sense of belonging to the peers' group and promote prosocial behaviours in the community context. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The aim of this research was to assess which criteria laypeople use to evaluate the importance of treatments the Italian National Health Service (NHS) should or should not guarantee and the relationship with their degree of importance. A convenience sample of 100 individuals (22–65 years old) were asked to evaluate 52 treatments partly included and partly not included in the Essential Assistance Levels. Results showed that laypeople employ a wide range of criteria, only part of which corresponds to those traditionally investigated in the psychosocial literature. Two main dimensions emerge as organizing principles underlying their judgments, referring to NHS function (prevention vs. treatment) and to the opportunity to focus on the specific health needs of particular categories of citizens (selectivity). Advances in medical research have increased the number and types of effective forms of treatment for conditions that were once considered untreatable, significantly improving patients’ quality of life. The greater knowledge of the progresses of medicine, the awareness of the possible treatments, and the widespread optimistic belief that actual diagnostic-therapeutical possibilities of medicine are almost unlimited resulted in a growing health demand from the general population. However, several treatments are still inaccessible for a large number of people, owing to their cost, lack of accessibility, or complexity. All health systems in Western industrialized countries are facing the need to guarantee

Several studies demonstrated the importance of psychosocial factors, like social support, for understanding the experience of people with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Less information is available on "problematic support"; that is, instances of support that are perceived as non-supportive, even though the provider's actions may be well intended. Aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of problematic support from SLE patients' perspective. Nine women with SLE were interviewed and transcripts were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Three main types of problematic social support were indentified. Oppressive support describes social support offers characterized by excessive worries and unwanted advices. Support denying the illness is characterized by a neglect of the disease or of its consequences. Support based on divergent illness representations is perceived as not punctual and not in line with patients' actual clinical condition. This study confirms the complexity of providing useful support to SLE patients and suggest that also people living close to patients should represent a target of interventions. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The purpose of this research was to explore adolescents' feeling of unsafety associated with living in the urban context, their perceptions of the quality of social relations (social support from different persons) and sense of community, and the differences according to the size of the city and adolescent gender. A second aim was to analyse the antecedents of feeling of unsafety. In particular, we considered the influence of sense of community, perception of social support and personal involvement in negative experiences in the urban environment. A questionnaire was submitted to 823 adolescents aged 14 to 19 years (43.3% male and 56.7% female), living in cities of different sizes in north-central Italy. Results show the presence of differences in feeling of unsafety and sense of community according to the size of the urban context and adolescent gender. Personal involvement in negative situations is a strong predictor of feeling of unsafety, whereas sense of community plays a limited role in reducing it. The picture concerning the effect of social support is mixed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

HIV prevention with "at risk" adolescents: how to "reach" and "involve" young people in extra-school contexts? - The paper discusses the issue of the difficulty to reach and involve the targets of preventive interventions, by taking as example a HIV prevention intervention aimed at out-ofschool adolescents and young people. Keywords: prevention, HIV, adolescents, action research, evaluation

The purpose of this paper is to explore, by means of semi-structured interviews, how families of adolescents perceive and describe their educational styles and the development of adolescent autonomy. Specifically, the results of two different studies will be discussed: the first was conducted with a group of 83 parents (fathers and mothers) of 15- to 18-year-old adolescents, male and female, from different cultural backgrounds (medium-low and medium-high). The second study involved both adolescents and their parents of three age-groups (10 families with 13-, 15- and 17-year-old adolescents, for a total of 90 interviews), half male and half female.

Conflicts between parents and adolescents were explored from the viewpoint of 13- and 15-year-old children (N = 397). There was support for Steinberg's (1989) distancing hypothesis: older children reported more aggression, more frustration and lower intimacy outcomes. There was also support for the hypothesis that the more complex position of adolescent girls (valuing both closeness and autonomy) would result in higher levels of frustration, whereas boys would be more clearly confrontational-producing relatively more escalation. Overall, mothers were experienced as more compromising and as fostering greater intimacy in comparison to fathers. There were differences between family types: those mothers living with a partner were reported as more aggressive than mothers from non-divorcing families, and adolescents living with mother alone reported more frustration and escalation outcomes. In respect of fathers, non-residential fathers and daughters experienced less aggression, lower escalation outcomes and sustained higher levels of compromise in comparison to fathers in non-divorcing families. Boys without their father resident reported the lowest levels of compromise with both mothers and fathers-consistent with others' research suggesting that boys' accommodation to parental separation is more problematic. Finally, effects of parental age were explored.

Internet forums represent a useful but understudied resource to understand psychosocial aspects of living with systemic lupus erythematosus. This study was aimed to describe the demand/supply of social support through the Internet in relation with the description of personal illness experiences. All the posts (118) from an Italian forum for systemic lupus erythematosus patients were collected and analyzed combining qualitative content analysis with statistical textual analysis. The results showed different purposes for posts: starting new relationships, seeking information, receiving emotional support, and giving a contribution. Lexical analysis identified three ways of describing patients’ experiences. Discussion focuses on the relationship between the requested/offered support and systemic lupus erythematosus experiences.