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This paper examines the use of vignettes as a research method in a comparative exploration of the provision for children with special educational needs across eleven countries. The investigation selected in-country researchers, who responded to questions with respect to children described in 14 vignettes. The questions related to school placement options; assessment processes; support arrangements; service provision; curriculum responses and those involved in placement decisions. The vignette findings were able to highlight differences in placement decisions between the countries; the general lack of pupil voice in decision making and the ubiquitous influence of medical categories within educational settings. The utility of using vignettes in this type of research is discussed in relation to reflecting the complex reality of educational practice in different countries.

This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of controlling for endogenous peer effects in estimating the influence of gender peer effects on educational outcomes. Using Manski's linear-in-means model, this paper illustrates that the estimation of gender peer effects is potentially biased in the presence of endogenous peer effect in education. The appropriate gender peer effect is estimated after identifying and controlling for the endogenous effect through the use of Graham's variance-restriction method.

This paper moves from the data collected during an ethnographic research conducted in Second Life, which focuses on the observation of different technological difficulties in educational experiences. The main research interests focused on the social dynamics of educational experiences in Second Life and the opportunity to develop a proper research methodology. The main goal is to evaluate the educational experience in such a particular context through the stories of participants; therefore, the most appropriate methodology for researching the subject has been considered to be ethnography. As result of the research, it is observed that an appropriate use of the available tools and the adoption of innovative teaching strategies can promote the improvement of the educational experience in online worlds. This paper suggests interesting elements from the analysis of the data collected, which may help to adopt an innovative point of view on ethnographic research in an online world in education.

Research Findings: Research with young children is a complex enterprise and often fraught with ethical and practical dilemmas. This paper seeks to discuss the experience of an Australian early childhood academic undertaking research with children 3 to 6 years of age. It draws upon a series of projects that examine young children's standpoints on quality indicators for their prior-to-school setting experiences and the methodologies that provided a framework for a successful research design. Practice or Policy: Focusing on a phased approach first piloted in Singapore, the paper examines some of the ethical and practical considerations, using a continuum process for supporting the active participation of young children in research. This is proposed as a useful tool for experienced and novice researchers seeking a guide to the processes for undertaking this type of research. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

Working with data from the PISA study (OECD, 2007), Lynn (2010) has argued that individuals from South Italy average an IQ approximately 10 points lower than individuals from North Italy, and has gone on to put forward a series of conclusions on the relationship between average IQ, latitude, average stature, income, etc. The present paper criticizes these conclusions and the robustness of the data from which Lynn (2010) derived the IQ scores. In particular, on the basis of recent Italian studies and our databank, we observe that : 1) school measures should be used for deriving IQ indices only in cases where contextual variables are not crucial: there is evidence that partialling out the role of contextual variables may lead to reduction or even elimination of PISA differences; in particular, schooling effects are shown through different sets of data obtained for younger grades; 2) in the case of South Italy, the PISA data may have exaggerated the differences, since data obtained with tasks similar to the PISA tasks (MT-advanced) show smaller differences; 3) national official data, obtained by INVALSI (2009a) on large numbers of primary school children, support these conclusions, suggesting that schooling may have a critical role; 4) purer measures of IQ obtained during the standardisation of Raven's Progressive Coloured Matrices also show no significant differences in IQ between children from South and North Italy. (Contains 6 tables.)

Lynn (2010) suggests that differences in average intelligence explain many of the differences observed across the Italian regions. This paper puts forward a methodological critique to his study, coupling it with an empirical test showing that Lynn's analysis is not sufficiently robust to support its conclusions. (Contains 2 tables.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a comparison of how human expertise is perceived by human resource development (HRD) scholars across several Western European countries and in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative, exploratory approach using electronic mail was used for this study. In total, 36 leading HRD scholars from 11 different countries were interviewed. Findings: There is a propensity of several countries to converge towards common themes. Based on this fact, a European-US definition of expertise is offered: expertise is the combination of knowledge, experience, and skills held by a person in a specific domain. Research limitations/implications: One major limitation is the selection of "experts" to describe "expertise". Second, although all but one European interviewee spoke fluent English, the questions were asked in English. Third, virtual ethnography coupled with traditional interviewing is known to be best. Fourth, the research is deeply embedded in one field. Finally, the rather small sample size underrepresented some countries. Practical implications: The findings provide HRD practitioners with a better understanding of training and development practices and give additional ground for employee development. They shed light on cultural differences and on cross-national communication. As organizations increasingly expand worldwide and outsource, understanding expertise across nations can provide insights into selection and hiring procedures and help with cross-cultural training for expatriates. Expertise can also be used as a performance measure to develop employees for optimal performance. Originality/value: The paper explores a training and development construct internationally. (Contains 1 table.)

Background and Objectives: In Italy, approximately 650 individuals receive a diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) every year. Unfortunately, the frequency with which patients are referred to speech‐language services is suboptimal, likely due to skepticism regarding the value of speech‐language therapy in the context of neurodegeneration. Materials and Methods: We conducted a virtual survey of speech and language therapists (SLTs) across Italy, to collect information about the assessment, intervention and management of patients with PPA. To ensure that as many SLTs as possible received the survey, the Italian Federation of SLTs (Federazione Logopedisti Italiani, FLI) aided in disseminating the survey. Results: In total, 336 respondents participated in the online survey, 140 of whom had previous experience with PPA patients. Respondents indicated having seen a total of 428 PPA patients in the previous 24 months (three patients on average, range: 0–40). SLTs who reported never working with PPA identified underdiagnoses, low referral rates and the rarity of the clinical syndrome as major reasons for their lack of experience with PPA. SLTs with experience working with PPA indicated that patients may not have accessed services because of service dysfunction and geographical barriers. Respondents reported using informal interviews during assessments and tests developed for post‐stroke aphasia, while impairment‐based/restitutive interventions were utilised most often. Conclusion: Findings may serve to inform health policy organisations regarding the current shortcomings and needed recommendations for improving the care of individuals with PPA in Italy. Improving awareness of the utility of rehabilitation among SLTs and other clinical service providers may serve to facilitate access to intervention, which in turn will serve to better support individuals living with PPA. What This Paper Adds: What is already known on the subject: Speech and language therapists (SLTs) play a crucial role in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA). However, the frequency with which individuals with PPA are referred for speech and language services is suboptimal due to skepticism regarding the value of speech and language therapy in the context of neurodegeneration, the scarcity of SLTs with expertise in the treatment of PPA and the lack of awareness of the SLT role amongst referrers. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: In recognition of the lack of published information on the provision of speech and language therapy services and clinicians' approaches to the assessment and treatment of individuals with PPA in Italy, we conducted an online survey to evaluate the current referral patterns for speech and language therapy services and to examine the current barriers to access these services for individuals with PPA in Italy. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The data presented here support that SLTs view treatment as useful for individuals with PPA and other professional figures and may serve to improve access to intervention, which in turn will serve to better support individuals living with PPA. The results highlight the need to inform health policy organisations about current gaps and aid in developing recommendations for improving the care of individuals with PPA, in order to understand how SLTs can best support individuals with PPA and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The new Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has prioritised a new healthcare model that will establish the additional community healthcare facilities (CHFs). The paper proposes a methodology for supporting decision-making on location of the future facilities according to new parameters that consider how proximity to healthcare benefits communities. Rethinking the spatial parameters for locating future CHFs, focusing on fragile areas, creates a novel decision support system. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology is based on multifactor analysis and on geographic information system (GIS) mapping to simulate the potential and risks associated with the proposed location of CHFs, focusing on territorial contexts of metropolitan cities, medium-sized cities, and Inner Areas, characterized by different fragilities. This method aims to innovate urban planning practices by updating the practice of per-capita urban planning standards and promoting implementation of the 15-minute city model. Findings: The method defines new spatial parameters useful to inform the appropriate location of CHFs in Italy's Inner Areas. This offers a new integrated approach to spatial design mixing urban planning and healthcare dimensions. Originality/value: The methodology will bring about an integrated urban planning approach, which guides both transformative urban choices and health services' implementation according to the needs of communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a method aimed at pointing out the quality of the mental models undergraduate engineering students deploy when asked to create explanations for phenomena or processes and/or use a given model in the same context. Student responses to a specially designed written questionnaire are quantitatively analyzed using researcher-generated categories of reasoning, based on the physics education research literature on student understanding of the relevant physics content. The use of statistical implicative analysis tools allows us to successfully identify clusters of students with respect to the similarity to the reasoning categories, defined as "practical or everyday," "descriptive," or "explicative." Through the use of similarity and implication indexes our method also enables us to study the consistency in students' deployment of mental models. A qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with students after they had completed the questionnaire is used to clarify some aspects which emerged from the quantitative analysis and validate the results obtained. Some implications of this joint use of quantitative and qualitative analysis for the design of a learning environment focused on the understanding of some aspects of the world at the level of causation and mechanisms of functioning are discussed. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures, and 7 footnotes.)

Purpose: In recent years, the literature on program evaluation has examined multi-stakeholder evaluation, but training evaluation models and practices have not generally taken this problem into account. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach: This study identifies intersections between methodologies and approaches of participatory evaluation, and techniques and evaluation tools typically used for training. The study focuses on understanding the evaluation needs of the stakeholder groups typically involved in training programs. A training program financed by the European Social Fund in Italy is studied, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies (in-depth interviews and survey research). Findings: The findings are as follows: first, identification of evaluation dimensions not taken into account in the return on investment training evaluation model of training evaluation, but which are important for satisfying stakeholders' evaluation needs; second, identification of convergences/divergences between stakeholder groups' evaluation needs; and third, identification of latent variables and convergences/divergences in the attribution of importance to them among stakeholders groups. Research limitations/implications: The main limitations of the research are the following: first, the analysis was based on a single training program; second, the study focused only on the pre-conditions for designing a stakeholder-based evaluation plan; and third, the analysis considered the attribution of importance by the stakeholders without considering the development of consistent and reliable indicators. Practical implications: These results suggest that different stakeholder groups have different evaluation needs and, in operational terms are aware of the convergence and divergence between those needs. Originality/value: The results of the research are useful in identifying: first, the evaluation elements that all stakeholder groups consider important; second, evaluation elements considered important by one or more stakeholder groups, but not by all of them; and third, latent variables which orient stakeholders groups in training evaluation. (Contains 8 tables, 2 figures and 7 notes.)

Purpose: The overall purpose of the European Union-funded Leadership Improvement for Student Achievement (LISA) project was to explore how leadership styles, as conceptualized in the developed dynamic holistic leadership framework, directly or indirectly affect student achievement at the lower secondary level of education in seven European countries. This paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: In its methodological design the study is a mixture of research methods and collaborative action research shared by acting school leaders and researchers. A series of statistical analyses was carried out in order to gather evidence whether the data from the LISA project supported the initially developed holistic leadership theoretical framework. Consequently, first some descriptive statistics are introduced in order to acquaint the reader with the kind of data the survey used from the schoolteacher questionnaires. Further, some explanations are laid out with regard to the methodologies employed in order to analyze the data, such as the treatment of missing data and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis structural equation models (SEM); then, a description of the main findings is offered through the analyses, which were conducted in order to predict school performance level from the relevant leadership style, followed by between-countries comparisons and analyses. Finally, an in-depth discussion and interpretations of the main findings--both integrative and concludive in nature--are offered. Findings: The quantitative analyses stemming from confirmatory factor analysis and SEM identified five robust underlying dimensions of practised leadership styles across the seven participating European countries. Furthermore, the findings stemming from the logistic regression analyses pointed out clearly the complementary inter-relationships of the main research questions of the study and analytical strands, especially with regard to the impact of certain intermediate variables on student achievement. Originality/value: The expected results of this approach are predominantly assumed/seen as an enrichment in the grounding of hypothetical and theoretical ideas as well as professional development for both school principals and researchers. Such an equal contribution of school leaders and school leaders' organizations and researchers could probably provide a model for future professional development programs for both groups of professionals. (Contains 4 tables and 9 figures.)

This paper focuses on the introduction of a suitable method for the measurement of social capital in the context of rural development policies. We present an empirical application of the method to four case studies from the south of Italy. In order to overcome some limits affecting previous empirical research, we have grounded the measurement framework upon a clear decomposition of the concept of social capital characterizing three main dimensions: structural, relational and cognitive. This has allowed us to build five direct indicators for the core components of social capital created within the EU local agencies for rural development (the Local Action Groups). Moreover we have set a synthetic measure capturing the specific configuration of the internal social capital of the groups as a whole. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Beraldo (2010) and Cornoldi, Belacchi, Giofre, Martini, and Tressoldi (2010) (CBGMT) have eight criticisms of my paper (Lynn, 2010) claiming that the large north-south differences in per capita income in Italy are attributable to differences in the average levels of intelligence in the populations. CBGMT give results for seven data sets for IQs in the north and south of Italy. All of these show that IQs are higher than in the north than in the south, although the differences are not as great as those I calculated. Other criticisms to the effect that the PISA tests are not measures of intelligence are refuted. The results of two further studies are given that confirm that IQs in the north of Italy are approximately 10 IQ points higher than in south. (Contains 2 tables.)

Purpose: This explorative research aims at examining the social representation of psychosocial training in NPOs managers. Design/methodology/approach: An adopted multiple research approach was adopted to analyse a corpus of qualitative data. A detailed semi-structured interview was administered to 122 senior managers of as many Italian NPOs. Interviews were analyzed using different techniques of content analysis and, run through the software T-Lab (analysis of word occurrence and co-word mapping, analysis of Markovian sequences). Findings: Italian NPOs' organizational culture seem to be action-oriented and self-referral, rather than knowledge-oriented. Training is not considered as a tool for strategic management of HR. Senior managers are mainly self-taught, trained on-the-job and, lack of a proper competence on HR management. Research limitations/implications: The group reached is a convenience sample and not a statistical representative sample. Practical implications: The paper suggests that intellectual capital can be an effective tool to address Italian NPOs self-referential knowledge and overcome their gaps in strategic management of human resources. Originality/value: NPOs' senior manager training has rarely been addressed; in addition, the adopted methodology mixes different techniques of analysis. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

This paper analyses and discusses the roles and participation of those involved in a collaborative action research project to highlight the factors that influenced their content, quality and intensity. Emphasis is given to the reflections of the facilitator (author) on the processes employed to achieve equal participation and roles in the action research. Meetings and interviews with teachers are content-analysed to provide descriptions of the timing, content and type of interactions among the members of the collaborative action research. Factors shown to influence the roles, participation and employed processes of interaction among the participants of collaborative action research include the time needed to develop shared understandings and collect adequate information; shared knowledge in order to challenge each other's ideas and interpretations; the flexible role of the facilitator; the avoidance of lead teachers' actions; and the trusting relationship among the participants in action research. (Contains 2 tables and 3 notes.)

Since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in 1991, children's right to have a voice, and to have their opinions heard, has led many providers and practitioners in the field of early years to seek ways to involve children's perspectives in the evaluation and development of practice. Those who value democracy understand that encouraging young children to actively participate has long term implications for participatory citizenship. Researchers in early childhood have also been sensitised to the challenge of inclusive research, in which our youngest children are viewed as active subjects, rather than objects, in a research process that is set in the context of a democratic encounter. The Centre for Research in Early Childhood in Birmingham, England has a strong ethical commitment to including the voices of children as an integral part of all its research and development work. We operate through an ethos of empowerment of all participants, and aim for participatory research practice which has at its heart an active involvement in promoting the rights of children as citizens with voice and power. This paper will trace a brief history of the children's participatory position in England and explore the struggles and challenges we, as researchers, have faced in making our personal commitment to children's participation a reality. It will draw upon the work of a series of research and development projects we have undertaken over the last fifteen years in which we tried to work alongside children to explore and document their realities of life in early childhood settings. These projects include the Effective Early Learning (EEL) Programme, the Accounting Early for Life Long Learning (AcE) Programme, the Children Crossing Borders Project (Bertram and Pascal 2007) and the Opening Windows (OW) Programme. Through the work of these projects, and with an especial focus on the Children Crossing Borders research, which was the precursor to the OW programme, we explain how we have attempted to provide space for multiple voices in the research process. We share our learning about how better to support and listen to the voices of young children, who are the most often silenced in the production of knowledge and understandings about their lives. From this experience, methodological and epistemological lessons for researchers and practitioners will be identified and further explored.

This paper studies the non-market effects of education on crime using a panel dataset for the 20 Italian regions over the period 1980-1995. Our empirical results suggest that education reduces crime over and above its effect through labour market opportunities (employment rate and wage rate). Because of the absence of a credible instrumental variable for education for Italy, our empirical strategy is to include in our econometric specification region fixed effect, year fixed effects and region-specific time trends together with an extensive set of socioeconomic and deterrence variables. Our results are robust to model specification, changes in the typology of crimes and finally, to alternative definitions of education. (Contains 4 tables.)

Aim: This study aimed to explore and understand the barriers perceived by Italian nurses to adopting self‐monitoring for managing oral anticoagulation in real‐life settings. Background: Barriers to self‐monitoring implementation for managing oral anticoagulation have been poorly described. Design: The study had a qualitative descriptive and exploratory design with a hybrid approach. Methods: A literature review was conducted to identify a priori barriers (deductive approach), while a small and semi‐structured focus group discussion was performed to explore the contextual barriers experienced by Italian nurses (inductive approach). A classic content analysis technique was adopted. Data were collected in 2019. Findings Two main categories were identified. Organizational barriers referred to the lack of inter‐professional collaboration and health‐care system strategies to provide clinical pathways for self‐monitoring. Individual barriers encompassed professional characteristics (e.g. university background, professional knowledge, continuum education and accountability/responsibility) and patient characteristics (e.g. patient health literacy and knowledge, engagement/empowerment and educational programmes). Finally, unwarranted clinical variation in oral anticoagulation management arose as a barrier determined by organizational and individual elements. Conclusions: The results of this study pointed out an urgent public health issue in addressing barriers influencing self‐monitoring practice and in sustaining care models that might enhance the quality improvement of self‐monitoring for managing oral anticoagulation. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Anticoagulation therapy is one of the leading chronic treatments worldwide to prevent stroke in atrial fibrillation patients.Self‐monitoring is a valuable option to further improve the quality of anticoagulation surveillance and patient medication adherence compared to standard care models.Thus far, the barriers underpinning self‐monitoring implementation experienced by Italian nurses are mainly unexplored.What does this paper add? This study is the first Italian description regarding the main barriers perceived by Italian nurses to adopting SM in patients treated using oral anticoagulation therapy.Organizational barriers refer to the lack of inter‐professional collaboration and health‐care system strategies to provide clinical pathways for self‐monitoring.Individual barriers encompass professional characteristics and patient characteristics, and unwarranted clinical variation arose as a barrier determined by both organizational and individual barriers.The implications of this paper Description of the main barriers perceived by Italian nurses to adopt self‐monitoring of oral anticoagulation is required to prioritize policies and system‐level interventions.Health institutions, patient associations and scientific societies should develop policies that enhance the continuum of professional education of nurses regarding self‐monitoring for oral anticoagulation.Integrated care models where nurses have a leadership role in providing self‐monitoring practice are required to implement self‐monitoring widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage is the property of Il Capitale Culturale Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the methodology of an ecological investigation of aspects of culture in the interactional construction of early childhood in diverse global communities: Peru, Italy, Canada, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Regarding culture as a dynamic dimension of the child's socialisation, the approach taken was to film a "day in the life" of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl in each location. The principal investigators viewed these five "days" and selected clips were made into a compilation tape, to be interrogated and interpreted by the local investigators and the child's family. These latter reflections were also taped and then applied to a growing appreciation of the child in cultural context. Other inter-researcher techniques were used to elucidate and explore events and values further. Reflexive concerns as to the interplay between aims and methods in interpretive research are critical components of this endeavour to develop new cultural understandings of the girls in context. (Contains 1 note.)

Research question and aim: Clinical Ethics Committees (CECs) aim to support healthcare professionals (HPs) and healthcare organizations to deal with the ethical issues of clinical practice. In 2020, a CEC was established in an Oncology Research Hospital in the North of Italy. This paper describes the development process and the activities performed 20 months from the CEC's implementation, to increase knowledge about CEC's implementation strategy. Research design: We collected quantitative data related to number and characteristics of CEC activities carried out from October 2020 to June 2022 using the CEC internal database. Data were reported descriptively and compared with data from the literature to provide a complete overview of the CEC's development and implementation process. Participants and research context: The study has been conducted at the local health authority (LHA) of Reggio Emilia. It is a report of the activities provided by the CEC, where no HPs or patients were involved. Ethical Considerations: The report is part of a larger study named EVAluating a Clinical Ethics Committee implementation process (EvaCEC), which has been approved by the Local Ethics Committee (AUSLRE Protocollo n° 2022/0026554 of 24/02/2022). EvaCEC is also the first author's PhD project. Findings: In total, the CEC performed 7 ethics consultations (EC), published three policies related to particular ethical questions of clinical and organizational practice, provided one educational online course on ethics consultation targeting employed HPs, and promoted a specific dissemination process among the different departments of the LHA. According to our results, the CEC widely fulfilled the standard threefold set of clinical ethics support services tasks (namely, ethics consultation, ethics education, and policy development), but further investigations are needed to evaluate the CEC's impact on clinical practice. Conclusion: Our findings may increase knowledge regarding the composition, role, and tasks of a CEC in an Italian setting, informing future strategies and efforts to regulate these institutions officially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studied usefulness of Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) for cross-national comparisons of nursery school quality. Found that ratings can be made in two hours, and can provide comparisons on several important criteria, but because the scale is empirically, rather than theoretically based, its use can obscure cultural differences in values which underlie different countries' care systems. (KDFB)

Background: Case-finding tools, such as the Identify Chronic Migraine (ID-CM) questionnaire, can improve detection of CM and alleviate its significant societal burden. We aimed to develop and validate the Italian version of the ID-CM (ID-EC) in paper and as a smart app version in a headache clinic-based setting.Methods: The study investigators translated and adapted to the Italian language the original ID-CM questionnaire (ID-EC) and further implemented it as a smart app. The ID-EC was tested in its paper and electronic version in consecutive patients referring to 9 Italian tertiary headache centers for their first in-person visit. The scoring algorithm of the ID-EC paper version was applied by the study investigators (case-finding) and by patients (self-diagnosis), while the smart app provided to patients automatically the diagnosis. Diagnostic accuracy of the ID-EC was assessed by matching the questionnaire results with the interview-based diagnoses performed by the headache specialists during the visit according to the criteria of International Classification of Headache Disorders, III edition, beta version.Results: We enrolled 531 patients in the test of the paper version of ID-EC and 427 in the validation study of the smart app. According to the clinical diagnosis 209 patients had CM in the paper version study and 202 had CM in the smart app study. 79.5% of patients returned valid paper questionnaires, while 100% of patients returned valid and complete smart app questionnaires. The paper questionnaire had a 81.5% sensitivity and a 81.1% specificity for case-finding and a 30.7% sensitivity and 90.7% specificity for self-diagnosis, while the smart app had a 64.9% sensitivity and 90.2% specificity.Conclusions: Our data suggest that the ID-EC, developed and validated in tertiary headache centers, is a valid case-finding tool for CM, with sensitivity and specificity values above 80% in paper form, while the ID-EC smart app is more useful to exclude CM diagnosis in case of a negative result. Further studies are warranted to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the ID-EC in general practice and population-based settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to perform an observational descriptive study of the Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) in a population of children by evaluating the prevalence and role of sex and age variables. The 22-item Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) was administered to parents of children aged 3 to 12 years. The questionnaire is a very simple tool since it allows for the indication of patients with possible OSAS diagnosis through a cut-off of 0.33. The anonymous diagnostic questionnaire, available in digital format, was administered to the population under study by a link or QR code. Only the questionnaires completed in all their parts were recorded and analyzed. Eight hundred and thirty-two questionnaires were collected. One hundred and fifty-four subjects obtained a PSQ score > 0.33 and the prevalence of OSAS was 18.51%. The Chi-square test showed a statistically significant association between the PSQ score > 0.33 and male sex. The higher prevalence of subjects with a value of PSQ > 0.33 (n = 277) are aged 3–4–5 years, followed by the 6–7–8 range in the group with PSQ score > 0.33, p < 0.05. The prevalence of OSAS was 18.51% in children aged 3 to 12 years. The variables male biological sex and the age group 3–8 year were statistically significant for subjects with OSAS diagnosis. This study underlines the use of the 22-item Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire as a first screening tool to identify children at risk of OSAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explores how transcultural consultation is carried out in the social services of a local Italian area. Its purpose is to deepen our understanding of whether this methodology founded on the ethnopsychological approach can be useful in strengthening the cultural competency of social workers. Based on participant observations and semi-structured interviews, this paper illustrates how this tool helps practitioners become more aware of their values and implement more collaborative interventions, through which clients with migratory backgrounds can find a space for the expression and recognition of their internalised cultures. This paper additionally points out similarities and differences between this methodology and other cross-cultural social work models. Although transcultural consultation is conducted by psychotherapists, different application paths are proposed where even social workers can play an active role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Electronic Personal Health Record (EPHR) provides an innovative service for citizens and professionals to manage health data, promoting patient-centred care. It enhances communication between patients and physicians and improves accessibility to documents for remote medical information management. The study aims to assess the prevalence of awareness and acceptance of the EPHR in northern Italy and define determinants and barriers to its implementation. In 2022, a region-wide cross-sectional study was carried out through a paper-based and online survey shared among adult citizens. Univariable and multivariable regression models analysed the association between the outcome variables (knowledge and attitudes toward the EPHR) and selected independent variables. Overall, 1634 people were surveyed, and two-thirds were aware of the EPHR. Among those unaware of the EPHR, a high prevalence of specific socio-demographic groups, such as foreign-born individuals and those with lower educational levels, was highlighted. Multivariable regression models showed a positive association between being aware of the EPHR and educational level, health literacy, and perceived poor health status, whereas age was negatively associated. A higher knowledge of the EPHR was associated with a higher attitude towards the EPHR. The current analysis confirms a lack of awareness regarding the existence of the EPHR, especially among certain disadvantaged demographic groups. This should serve as a driving force for a powerful campaign tailored to specific categories of citizens for enhancing knowledge and usage of the EPHR. Involving professionals in promoting this tool is crucial for helping patients and managing health data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Audit and Feedback (A&F) is one of the most common strategies used to improve quality in healthcare. However, there is still lack of awareness regarding the enabling factors and barriers that could influence its effectiveness. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to measure the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of general practitioners (GPs) regarding A&F. The study was performed in the context of the EASY-NET program (project code NET-2016-02364191). Methods: The survey was developed according to two steps. Firstly, a scoping review was performed in order to map the literature on the existing similar instruments with the aim of identifying the sub-domains and possible items to include in a preliminary version of the questionnaire. In the second phase, the questionnaire was reviewed by a multidisciplinary group of experts and administrated to a convenience sample in a pilot survey. Results: Ten papers were included in the scoping review. The survey target and development methodology were heterogenous among the studies. The knowledge, attitudes and behaviors domains were assessed in six, nine and seven studies, respectively. In the first step, 126 pertinent items were extracted and categorized as follows: 8 investigated knowledge, 93 investigated attitudes, and 25 investigated behaviors. Then, 2 sub-domains were identified for knowledge, 14 for attitudes and 7 for behavior. Based on these results, a first version of the survey was developed via consensus among two authors and then revised by the multidisciplinary group of experts in the field of A&F. The final version of the survey included 36 items: 8 in the knowledge domain, 19 in the attitudes domain and 9 in the behaviors domain. The results of the pilot study among 15 GPs suggested a good acceptability and item relevance and accuracy, with positive answers totaling 100% and 93.3% in the proposed questions. Conclusions: The methodology used has shown to be a good strategy for the development of the survey. The survey will be administrated before and after the implementation of an A&F intervention to assess both baseline characteristics and changes after the intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Literature on the prevention of medication errors is growing, highlighting that knowledge, attitude and behavior with regard to medication errors are strategic to planning of educational activities and evaluating their impact on professional practice. In this context, the present pilot study aims to translate and validate nursing professionals' knowledge, attitudes and behavior (KAB theory) concerning medication administration errors in ICU from English into Persian. Furthermore, two main objectives of the project were: performing a pilot study among Iranian nurses using the translated questionnaire and carrying out a cultural measurement of the KAB theory concerning medication administration errors in an ICU questionnaire across two groups of Italian and Iranian populations. Methods: A cross-cultural adaptation of an instrument, according to the Checklist for reporting of survey studies (CROSS), was performed. The convenience sample was made up of 529 Iranian and Italian registered nurses working in ICU. An exploratory factor analysis was performed and reliability was assessed. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the measurement invariance. Ethical approval was obtained. Results: There was an excellent internal consistency for the 19-item scale. Results regarding factorial invariance showed that the nursing population from Italy and Iran used the same cognitive framework to conceptualize the prevention of medication errors. Conclusions: Findings from this preliminary translation and cross-cultural validation confirm that the questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument within Persian healthcare settings. Moreover, these findings suggest that Italian and Persian nurses used an identical cognitive framework or mental model when thinking about medication errors prevention. The paper not only provides, for the first time, a validated instrument to evaluate the KAB theory in Iran, but it should promote other researchers in extending this kind of research, supporting those countries where attention to medical error is still increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Family Perceptions of Physician-Family Caregiver Communication scale (FPPFC) was developed to assess quality of physician-family end-of-life communication in nursing homes. However, its validity has been tested only in the USA and the Netherlands. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the FPPFC construct validity and its reliability, as well as the psychometric characteristics of the items comprising the scale. Data were collected in cross-sectional study in Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. The factorial structure was tested in confirmatory factor analysis. Item parameters were obtained using an item response theory model. Participants were 737 relatives of nursing home residents who died up to 3 months prior to the study. In general, the FPPFC scale proved to be a unidimensional and reliable measure of the perceived quality of physician-family communication in nursing home settings in all five countries. Nevertheless, we found unsatisfactory fit to the data with a confirmatory model. An item that referred to advance care planning performed less well in Poland and Italy than in the Northern European countries. In the item analysis, we found that with no loss of reliability and with increased coherency of the item content across countries, the full 7-item version can be shortened to a 4-item version, which may be more appropriate for international studies. Therefore, we recommend use of the brief 4-item FPPFC version by nursing home managers and professionals as an evaluation tool, and by researchers for their studies as these four items confer the same meaning across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of providing evidence about doctor-managers' resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic, this study analyzes the characteristics of 114 doctor-managers operating within the Italian National Health Service (NHS). During the emergency, doctor-managers had to show adaptive capacities to deal with unexpected situations and develop new paradigms, procedures, and quick responses to patients' needs. This is in line with resilience, and in this perspective, it is crucial to investigate resilience determinants. The paper, therefore, provides an identikit of the resilient doctor-manager. The research was conducted between November and December 2020. Primary data were collected through an online questionnaire consisting of six sections. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Data were analyzed using quantitative techniques and employing Stata 16. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was employed to test construct validity and scale reliability. Results show that increasing levels of individual resilience are related to increasing levels of managerial identity. Moreover, physicians' individual resilience has a positive association with commitment, knowledge diffusion, and Evidence-Based Medicine adoption. Finally, physicians' individual resilience has a negative association with their role in the university, their specialty, and their gender. The study suggests some practical implications for healtcare organizations. In general, career paths are decided primarily on competency assessment, while an important role should be devoted to behavioral characteristics. Furthermore, organizations should take care of the levels of individual commitment and encourage professional networking because both help doctor-managers cope with uncertainty. The originality of the study relies on a fresh look at all previous work. There are currently few contributions in the literature to explore and investigate resilience elements in doctor-managers during the pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has caused disruptive changes across different life experiences essential to children's growth and development, including early childcare services and schools, thus threatening precious opportunities for children in early childhood to learn. The pandemic has also undermined the collaborative and alliance relationship between childcare services and families which has been widely considered an important aspect of modern services. This paper presents and discusses results from a mixed‐method exploratory study with early childcare services for children between 0 and 6 years in Italy in 2021, involving both teachers and parents, to understand experiences, educational practices put in place in childcare services, feelings, resources and risks perceived by families and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the criticisms and support factors of the migratory experience of a group of asylum seekers (ASs) hosted in an Italian reception center. Starting from a psychosocial approach that gives importance to the intertwining of the personal history and context, the present study aims to explore the meaning that ASs give to their origins, the relationship of ASs with the host context and with professionals of the refugee centres, along with the representation of the Future. We conducted 27 semi-structured deep interviews with 9 male ASs with an average age of 24,4 years. In line with the research goals, we carried out an analysis of pencil-and-paper content using the interpretative-phenomenological-analysis. Three different types of refugee experience emerged: persecutory, ambivalent and integrated. The three conditions identified can help professionals to better understand the different experiences of ASs, allowing them to develop more effective interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the various descriptions and interpretations of professional autonomy, as have been given in the articles from Belgium, Italy and the UK are subjected to a further analysis. The implicit claim that professional autonomy of physicians is beneficial for the health of patients is scrutinized and is proven to be untrue and invalid. The conclusion is that professional autonomy is more directed at the interests of physicians than of those of patients and deserves no special place in health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant challenge in studying formative assessment is the lack of suitable instruments for assessing teachers' formative assessment practices. This paper reports the development of the Teacher Formative Assessment Practice Scale (TFAPS) and its psychometric properties based on two samples of primary and secondary school teachers: one from Hong Kong (N = 449) and the other from Italy (N = 309). Exploratory factor analysis identified two distinct factors, including teacher-directed formative assessment (TdFA, six items) and student-directed formative assessment (SdFA, four items). The confirmatory factor analysis supported this two-factor structure. Rasch analysis provided further psychometric evidence regarding scale dimensionality and item quality. This study suggests that TFAPS is an appropriate instrument for assessing teachers' formative assessment practices, but the cultural influence on teachers' formative assessment practices should be noted in the applications of the instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article introduces the issue migration in the context: perspectives, methodology, and cultural issues. International migrations and their changing patterns pose new challenges to community social psychologists and new questions to be explored. Community psychologists' attention is necessary to develop a perspective about migration more suitable to effective interventions in global and local communities. Therefore, methods aimed at study migration issues should be implemented at micro-system, community, and national levels. Through this series of papers, we aim to contribute to the debate about how social and community psychologists can engage in community development strategies aimed at improving migrant well-being too. Indeed, they can give relevant contributions to the deepening of migration issues through research, methodologies, and interventions in different contexts and at different levels of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IS research community was formed around the problems and questions raised by organisations' attempts to exploit the new Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The subject is concerned with both the 'hard' characteristics of the ICT application under study and the social context of the organisation within which it is to be or is being deployed. Mixed methods are designed to deal with both these somewhat disparate situations in a single study and are likely to be of particular value for IS research. Ethnography is a research method that can make a powerful contribution in mixed methods studies. However as yet, both mixed methods and ethnography form only a small number of empirical IS paper. Ethnographers seek to immerse themselves in a social situation and become part of the group being investigated in order to understand the meanings that actors put upon phenomena or situations. It is the data collection methods that distinguish this method from other qualitative research methods. The researcher accumulates data from personal observations of events and human action in addition to all the traditional sources of documents interviews, etc. Choosing this research method represents a big investment for the researcher. This paper outlines some of the key issues unique to IS ethnographers and identifies three organisational situations for which ethnographic methods are likely to yield significant value - ICT-enabled major change; ICT supported complex organisational operations that involve many expert participants and ICT supported ill understood management problems. Two cases, illustrating the use made of ethnographic methods in two of these situations, are described and assessed (Miscione, 2007; Mattarelli, Bertolotti, & Macri, 2013). This paper concludes that there is an important place for both Mixed Methods and Ethnographic Research Methods in the IS research Discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) can be considered the synthesis of a debate, which sets the sustainable development as a priority for the International Community. The achievement of the sustainable development goals has made necessary to develop a system of indicators. Indicators and data should be collected and reported sub-nationally, giving attention to the territory. This is a necessity even more for Italy, a country historically characterized by strong regional specificities and differences, which find their radicalization in the so-called North–South gap. In this paper, we want to examine and monitor the Italian situation as to the achievement of the SDGs, based on the analysis of the Regions, to highlight potential differences or territorial homogeneity. In particular, we want to emphasize not only how there is actually a gap between the North and the South of the country, but also how the synthesis tends often to be representative of situations profoundly different from each other, as a result of different values in the basic indicators, or similar situations between them. Due to the difficulty of reporting on a paper a detailed analysis of all 17 sustainable development goals, we focus only on the first three goals one. In particular, for each goal we select indicators all useful for the analysis of regional realities and appropriate some for monitoring the present condition, others for providing information on the future one (risk). The research methodology is to use the Adjusted Mazziotta–Pareto Index for creating a composite index for each goal considered. This analysis is preceded by an exploratory analysis of the basic indicators over time through the use of within and between correlations and the average PCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from the so-called Evidence-based Librarianship (EBL) to the Narrative-based Librarianship (NBL) - in line with the "narrative turn" occurred in the social sciences and humanities - is taking places in Italy too. Starting from the acknowledgement that field surveys using narrative methods are increasing in the Italian public libraries, the paper presents the methodology and the first outcomes of a metaresearch built upon a corpus encompassing the textual data produced by means of qualitative research techniques. Applying a software for automatic text analysis (IRaMuTeQ) and using both an inductive and a deductive approach, the authors analyse the lexicon behind the narratives of users, non-users, opinion leaders and staff members and chase various objectives. The result is a map of questions and answers that brings to light emerging research patterns and boosts further considerations about the chosen methodological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though Italian researchers in general agree that communication research is in a state of crisis, they differ in what they perceive to be the sources of the crisis and the way it should be resolved. (PD)

Copyright of L'Infermiere is the property of IPASVI - Italian Nursing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Hospital Length of Stay (LoS) is a valid proxy to estimate the consumption of hospital resources. Average LoS, however, albeit easy to quantify and calculate, can be misleading if the underlying distribution is not symmetric. Therefore the average does not reflect the nature of such underlying distribution and may mask different effects. This paper uses routinely collected data of an Italian hospital patients from different departments over a period of 5 years. This will be the basis for a running example illustrating the alternative models of patients length of stay. The models includes a new density model called Hypergamma. The paper concludes by summarizing these various modelling techniques and highlighting the use of a risk measure in bed planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]