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Copyright of BPA - Applied Psychology Bulletin (Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata) is the property of Giunti O.S. Organizzazioni Speciali 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.)

The radical changes deriving from the COVID-19 emergency have heavily upset some of the most familiar routines of daily work life. Abruptly, many workers have been forced to face the difficulties that come with switching to remote working. Basing on the theoretical framework proposed by the Job Demands-Resources model, the purpose of this paper was to explore the effect of work overload (workload and techno overload), on behavioral stress, meant as an outcome linked to the health impairment process. Furthermore, the aim of the study was to explore the mediating role of job crafting, considered as a second-order construct consisting of two dimensions (increasing structural resources and increasing challenging demands) in the abovementioned relation. Participants were 530 workers experiencing remote working or work-from-home during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy (March–May 2020). Hypotheses were explored by using three different latent variables, measured reflexively through indicators on a 5-point scale, extracted from validated questionnaires. Data analysis was performed through Structural Equation Modeling; to test the mediation, bootstrap validation was computed (n = 2,000). Results showed that the mediation of job crafting was partial. More specifically, the direct effect between work overload and behavioral stress was positive; moreover, the indirect, negative effect through the mediation of job crafting was also significant. Therefore, results showed that job crafting can play a crucial role as a protective factor supporting the activation and adjustment of suitable resources; these resources can be useful to deal with the negative effects of work overload, particularly under the condition of heavy remote working and use of technologies, on individual outcomes. Starting from the current global scenario of the pandemic that has not yet ceased its effects, the study suggested decisive theoretical and practical implications. Accordingly, findings extended the current trends in occupational health psychology research, with special reference to the mainstream topic "work and COVID-19" in the Italian context. Finally, results can give suggestions to companies engaged in managing change, recommending that they build a collaborative workplace at the individual and collective level to implement job crafting interventions and enrich the personal and organizational resources of workers, which is useful cope with the current demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of recent studies carried out in the education sector have revealed the incidence of burnout in school environments and have highlighted the principal psycho-social sources of burnout syndrome among teachers. This study attempts to look further at the results of a previous research carried out on a sample of 882 Italian teachers. Using advanced statistical techniques such as MIMIC modelling, it intends to verify whether the following psycho-social stress factors are significant as predictors: interpersonal relations, workload, organisational con ict, role ambiguity, perceived role image, work-home interface. Considering that in Italy the recent regulations regarding retirement are triggering new stressful conditions for teachers, this study also aims to assess the role played by age in relation to the sources of psycho-social stress and burnout. The scales we have adopted are the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-ES) and the Cooper's Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) specifically adapted for Italian schools. Results have shown the clear predictive role of factors such as interpersonal con ict and home-work interface in determining the onset of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization among teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The study investigated the association of narcissistic leadership, workload and emotional demands with nurses' job satisfaction and the mediational role of meaningful work. Background: Considering the strong positive relationship that meaningful work has with job satisfaction, investigating its antecedents is crucial. Method: A group of 602 nurses participated in the study completing a self‐report questionnaire. Structural equation model analysis was applied. Results: Narcissistic leadership showed a negative association while emotional demands showed a positive one with meaningful work. The three determinants had a negative association with job satisfaction, while meaningful work showed a positive one. The indirect relationship with job satisfaction mediated by meaningful work was negative for narcissistic leadership and positive for emotional demands. Conclusion: The study adds to the literature mainly by the investigation of the mediational role of meaningful work in a sample of nurses. Implications for Nursing Management: Measures should promote supportive, instead of narcissistic, leadership behaviours. Moreover, nurses should be assisted in identifying emotional demands as a meaningful aspect of their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of BPA - Applied Psychology Bulletin (Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata) is the property of Giunti O.S. Organizzazioni Speciali 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.)

Copyright of BPA - Applied Psychology Bulletin (Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata) is the property of Giunti O.S. Organizzazioni Speciali 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.)

Aim This study investigated how work relationships (perceived organisational support, supervisor and co-worker work-family backlash) and job demands (workload, emotional dissonance) can interact with work-family conflict and work-family enrichment. Background Despite the extensive literature on the work-family interface, few studies on the nursing profession have considered the role of job demands and work relationships, focusing on both the positive and negative side of the work-family interface. Method The study involved a sample of 500 nurses working in an Italian hospital. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Results Analyses showed that work-family conflict has a positive relationship with job demands and supervisor backlash, and a negative relationship with perceived organisational support. Work-family enrichment was found to have a negative relationship with job demands and a positive relationship with perceived organisational support. No significant relationships were found between work-family enrichment and both backlash dimensions. Conclusion The study confirmed the importance of promoting a balance between job demands and resources in order to create favourable conditions for work-family enrichment and to prevent work-family conflict. Implications for nursing management The findings suggest that it may be advisable for health-care organisations to invest in measures at individual, team and organisational levels, specifically in training and counselling for nurses and supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim In the light of the job demands-resources model, this study aimed to detect the mediating role of flow at work between job demands and job resources on one side, and exhaustion on the other. Background In a historical period where it is necessary to reduce the abandonment of nursing profession, flow is a useful tool to investigate the factors that can promote work motivation and prevent psychological distress. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted in a hospital, and 279 nurses completed a questionnaire. Analyses conducted are descriptive statistics, alphas, correlations and a structural equations model that considers the mediating role of flow at work. Results Findings show both the central role of job resources in determining flow at work, and the mediating role of flow at work in decreasing exhaustion, starting from job resources, and in decreasing the effect of job demands on exhaustion. Moreover, flow at work directly decreases exhaustion. Conclusions Results show the relevance of containing job demands and provide job resources to promote positive experiences at work. Implications for Nursing Management To promote flow at work, organizations should offer specific resources, such as supervisors' support, job autonomy, and psychological support to manage the emotional charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, worldwide. Early detection and appropriate management of cardiovascular risk factors and disease markers in daily clinical practice may improve preventive strategies and reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease. The EFFECTUS (Evaluation of Final Feasible Effect of Control Training and Ultra Sensitisation) programme was an educational programme aimed at evaluating prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors among outpatients, and preferences and attitudes for cardiovascular disease management among Italian physicians in their routine clinical practice. This article provides an overview of the main findings of different analyses from the EFFECTUS database, which have demonstrated a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, irrespective of the clinical settings and outpatient clinics in which patients were followed. Also, findings from this database suggest that more intensive clinical data recording was paralleled by better adherence to guidelines, and that use of electronic rather than conventional support for clinical data collection and registration improved accuracy in data recording, which translated into better management of patients at risk in daily clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The EFFECTUS (Evaluation of Final Feasible Effect of Control Training and Ultra Sensitisation) study is an educational programme, aimed at implementing global cardiovascular risk management in daily clinical practice in Italy. Objective: To evaluate global cardiovascular risk management among physicians stratified according to the use of conventional (CS) or electronic (ES) support for clinical data collection and registration. Methods: Involved physicians were asked to submit data into a study-designed, case-report form, covering the first ten adult outpatients consecutively seen in May 2006. A case-report form was made available on CS or ES, depending on physicians' preferences and attitudes. All available data were centrally analysed for global cardiovascular risk assessment and cardiovascular risk profile characterization. Results: Overall, 1078 physicians (27% females, aged 50 - 7 years) collected data from 9904 outpatients (46.5% females, aged 67 - 9 years). 299 physicians used CS for 2672 (27.0%) patients, whereas the remaining 779 physicians used ES for 7232 patients (73.0%). A higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, ischaemic heart disease (mostly previous myocardial infarction) and stroke, was recorded by physicians using CS compared with those using ES. Blood pressure and fasting glucose levels were significantly higher in the CS group than in the ES group, although a significantly higher number of antihypertensive, glucose and lipid-lowering prescriptions was reported in the former than in the latter group. Physicians using ES paid significantly more attention to collecting data concerning cardiovascular risk factors, which were also more up-to-date compared with those recorded by physicians using CS. Conclusions: This sub-analysis of the EFFECTUS study indicates a higher attention to the collection and management of data on major cardiovascular risk factors in physicians using ES than in those using CS. Our findings may suggest a potential way to improve global cardiovascular risk management in the clinical practices of Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term unemployment has major consequences from an economic, physical and psychosocial perspective. Several authors have pointed out that the search for employment is in itself work, which can generate feelings of exhaustion of psychophysical energies, cynicism and disinvestment, as well as a sense of ineffectiveness to the point of complete disillusion. The construct of burnout can be used to describe this psychological process. This study evaluated the burnout and engagement dimensions in individuals searching for work for a long time, from a qualitative perspective. Fifty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of long-term unemployed job seekers (Sardinia, Italy), based on Maslach's model of burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, effectiveness in job search). The answers to the semi-structured interviews were processed through T-Lab, a semi-automatic textual analysis software. Four thematic cores emerged: exhaustion vs. engagement, cynicism vs. trust, inefficacy vs. efficacy in job search and disillusion vs. hope. This result is consistent with the four-dimensional theoretical model of burnout, originally proposed by Edelwich and Brodsky, recently taken up by Santinello, and framed as the opposite of engagement, as shown in the JD-R model. This study highlights that burnout can describe the psychosocial experiences of long-term unemployed job seekers., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

During the first months of 2020, the world, and Italy at an early stage, went through the COVID-19 emergency that had a great impact on individual and collective health, but also on working processes. The mandatory remote working and the constant use of technology for employees raised different implications related to technostress and psycho-physical disorders. This study aimed to detect, in such a period of crisis and changes, the role of organizational communication considering the mediating role of both technostress and self-efficacy, with psycho-physical disorders as outcome. The research involved 530 workers working from home. A Structural Equations Model was estimated, revealing that organizational communication is positively associated with self-efficacy and negatively with technostress and psycho-physical disorders. As mediators, technostress is positively associated with psycho-physical disorders, whereas self-efficacy is negatively associated. As regards mediated effects, results showed negative associations between organizational communication and psycho-physical disorders through both technostress and self-efficacy. This study highlighted the potential protective role of organizational communication that could buffer the effect of technostress and enhance a personal resource, self-efficacy, which is functional to the reduction of psycho-physical disorders. This study contributed to literature underlying the role of communication in the current crisis and consequent reorganization of the working processes.

The present study describes the semantic nature of burnout and engagement in the operators involved in the management of illegal immigration. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on a sample of Italian practitioners ( n = 62) of the two levels of the reception system considered: (1) rescue and first aid and (2) reception and integration. Within the framework of the job demands-resources model (JD-R), the interviews deepened the analysis of the positive and negative dimensions of burnout and engagement: exhaustion versus energy, relational deterioration versus relational involvement, professional inefficacy versus professional efficacy and disillusion versus trust. The interviews were analysed using the T-Lab software, through a cluster analysis (bisecting K-means algorithm), which emphasised noteworthy themes. The results show that, in the vast majority of the dimensions considered (for both levels of reception), the same dimensions of engagement of the operators (energy, relational involvement, professional efficacy and trust) are able to lead them into a condition of burnout, with experiences, conversely, of exhaustion, relational deterioration, professional inefficacy and disillusion. These findings expand the knowledge on burnout and engagement in practitioners of illegal immigration, a context characterised by the value of help and welcome.

Introduction: During the health emergency in 2020, in order not to interrupt production processes and at the same time to protect the health of citizens and workers, alternative working methods were adopted different from the traditional ones, to which workers were directed without any previous notice or specific training., Aims: The purpose of the research is to explore the relationships between meaning of work, job crafting and emotional exhaustion during the first month of lockdown in the Italian territory. The study therefore aims to identify possible strengthening factors related to working well-being., Methods: The different constructs were detected through an online questionnaire from 11 March to 2 April 2020, involving 405 subjects. After verifying the reliability of the constructs, a mediation model was performed using nonparametric structural equations (PLS-SEM)., Results: Model's constructs show adequate reliabilities. The study highlights the total mediation of job crafting in the relationship between the meaning of work and emotional exhaustion. In particular, the regression relationship between meaning of work and emotional exhaustion is equal to c'=-0.04, p=0.480. On the contrary, the relationship between the meaning of work and job crafting is a=0.44 (p<0.001), and the one between job crafting and emotional exhaustion is b=-0.14, p=0.014., Conclusions: The results suggest that job crafting can be considered a factor able to buffer workers' emotional exhaustion and can guide new lines of intervention, in particular in relation to post-emergency reactivation.

This study aims to examine whether humanity of care and environmental comfort played a role in moderating the relationship between waiting time and patient satisfaction in an emergency department (ED). The study used a cross-sectional and non-randomized design. A total of 260 ED patients in two hospitals in Italy completed a self-report questionnaire. Moderated regression showed that after adjusting for control variables, waiting time was significantly and inversely associated with patient satisfaction. Humanity of care and environmental comfort showed a positive and significant association with patient satisfaction. Finally, the interaction term between waiting time and humanity of care was found to be significant, whereas the interaction effect between waiting time and environmental comfort was not significant. The conditional effect showed that when humanity of care was low, waiting time was negatively and significantly related to patient satisfaction. By contrast, when humanity of care was medium and high, the relationship between waiting time and patient satisfaction was not significant. These findings shed light on the key role of humanity of care in moderating the relationship between waiting time and patient satisfaction. The complex interrelations emerged should be carefully considered when interventions to foster patient satisfaction in an ED context are planned.

This study assesses the levels of and relationships between the Motivation to donate, Job crafting propensity, and the Organizational citizenship behavior of blood collection volunteers in a non-profit association. An Italian sample of AVIS (the Italian Association of Voluntary Blood donors) blood donors (N = 1215) actively involved in organizing blood collection, were asked to complete the Italian version of the Volunteer Function Index, the Job crafting scale, and the Organizational citizenship behavior scale. The tools were verified by Confirmatory factor analysis and their relationships were explored using Structural equation modeling for hidden variables. The three constructs have overall high scores. Motivation to donate and Job crafting show a clear correlation, with the latter influencing volunteer Organizational citizenship behavior. The study highlights the need to take into consideration the Motivation to donate, Job crafting and Organizational citizenship behavior of volunteers, particularly in countries such as Italy, where blood collection is almost exclusively carried out thanks to spontaneous, altruistic, and disinterested commitment., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objectives: This study aims to analyse, from a descriptive and qualitative point of view, the episodes of violence reported by healthcare workers (HCWs) in a large public Italian hospital. Qualitative analysis permits us to collect the victims' words used to describe the event and the ways in which they dealt with it. A comparison between genders was performed to better understand what type of different strategies could be used to improve the prevention of workplace violence for HCWs., Design and Setting: The retrospective observational study was carried out in 'Città della Salute e della Scienza', a complex of four interconnected hospitals situated in Northern Italy. This study analysed aggression data from the 4-year period of 2015-2018 that included all HCW categories. The data were obtained from the aggression reporting form., Participants: The analysed records were supplied by 396 HCWs (3.6% of all HCWs in the hospital)., Results: Male HCWs aged <30 years did not report violent episodes that occurred in the workplace, while male HCWs with 6-15 years of work experience reported more violent episodes than their female counterparts. Among the HCW professions, nursing was the profession, in which HCWs were more prone to experience a violent episode, while male medical doctors were more prone to report violent episodes than female medical doctors. Moreover, female HCWs experienced more verbal violence (insults) than male HCWs did, while male HCWs experienced more physical violence (bodily contact) than female HCWs did., Conclusions: The findings from this explorative study suggest that there is a gender difference in the characteristics of workplace violence perpetrated by patients, patients' relatives and visitors and in the way in which these episodes are described. Consequently, it is important for informative and preventive courses to consider gender differences in experiencing a violent episode., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

In Italy, the Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (Autorità Nazionale Anti-corruzione-ANAC) has developed a questionnaire to assess the organizational well-being of employees within public agencies. The study aimed to explore the relationship among variables in the ANAC questionnaire: Several job resources (lack of discrimination, fairness, career and professional development, job autonomy, and organizational goals' sharing) and outcomes of well-being at work, such as health and safety at work and sense of belonging. The research was carried out among workers in an Italian hospital in Northwest Italy ( N = 1170), through an online self-report questionnaire. Data were grouped into two job categories: Clinical staff ( N = 939) and non-clinical staff ( N = 231). The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results showed that health and safety at work and sense of belonging had significant positive relationships with the other variables; some differences emerged between the determinants of the two outcomes and among groups. The study aims to identify some reflections and suggestions regarding the assessment of well-being in the health care sector; implications for practice are identified to promote organizational well-being and health in organizations.

Workaholics generally allocate an excessive amount of time and energy to their work at the expense of having time for recovery from work. Nevertheless, a complete recovery is an essential prerequisite for well-being. This study examines the moderating role of workaholism in the relationship between daily recovery and daily exhaustion. Data were collected among 95 participants who completed a general questionnaire and a diary booklet for five consecutive working days. Multilevel analysis results confirmed a cross-level interaction effect of workaholism, showing that the negative relationship between recovery and exhaustion at the daily level is weaker for those with a high (versus low) level of workaholism. These insights suggest the promotion of interventions aimed at addressing workaholism among workers, and the design of projects able to stimulate recovery from work, particularly for workaholics.

Aim: Nursing shortage is acknowledged as worldwide issue: understanding the factors that foster nurses' intention to leave the profession (ITL) is therefore essential in lessening its impact. The present study aims at providing insight into the factors influencing nurses' ITL, taking into account personal characteristics, context characteristics and job satisfaction factors., Method: The study was conducted in two hospitals of Northern Italy, by a questionnaire administered to all nurses employed; 746 questionnaires were distributed, of which 525 (70.4%) were returned completed. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: personal characteristics, context characteristics, job satisfaction (44 items of Italian adaptation of Stamps' Index of Work Satisfaction), and ITL (single-item). Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression model were carried using Pasw18., Results: A higher job satisfaction was registered for Interaction with nurses, Professional status, and Autonomy; on the other hand, a perception of dissatisfaction was registered for Pay and Job requirements; 14.6% of respondents reported ITL. Finally, a low job satisfaction for Professional status, Pay, and Work organization policies, age < 30 years, and part-time schedule are associated to higher ITL., Discussion: The study allowed to identify various predictors of ITL, enhancing the importance of regular monitoring of ITL. To limit ITL, organizations should: invest on some job satisfaction factors, promote organizational integration of newcomers, and prevent the escalation of work-family and work-life conflict.

Background: The Evaluation of Final Feasible Effect of Ultra Control Training and Sensitization (EFFECTUS) study is aimed at implementing global cardiovascular (CV) risk management in Italy., Hypothesis: To evaluate the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) on attitudes and preferences for clinical management of global CV risk among physicians treating diabetic or nondiabetic patients., Methods: Involved physicians were asked to submit data into a study-designed case-report form, covering the first 10 adult outpatients consecutively seen in May 2006. All available clinical data were centrally analyzed for global CV risk assessment and CV risk profile characterization. Patients were stratified according to the presence or absence of DM., Results: Overall, 1078 physicians (27% female, ages 50 ± 7 y) collected data of 9904 outpatients (46.5% female, ages 67 ± 9 y), among whom 3681 (37%) had a diagnosis of DM at baseline. Diabetic patients were older and had higher prevalence of obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and associated CV diseases than nondiabetic individuals (P<0.001). They had higher systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and creatinine levels, but lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels than nondiabetic patients (P<0.001). Higher numbers of blood pressure and lipid-lowering drugs and antiplatelet agents were used in diabetic than in nondiabetic patients (P<0.001)., Conclusions: The EFFECTUS study confirmed higher CV risk and more CV drug prescriptions in diabetic than in nondiabetic patients. Presence of DM at baseline significantly improved clinical data collection. Such an approach, however, was not paralleled by a better control of global CV risk profile, which was significantly worse in the former than in the latter group., (© 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Aim: The aim of the present study was to develop a research model explaining the causal relationship between certain antecedents (job and emotional charge, supportive management and colleagues), work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction., Background: Many research projects in health organizations have highlighted the link between high WFC and lower levels of job satisfaction. The study of these variables is important in understanding the processes of professional nurse retention., Method: The survey was conducted using a questionnaire administered to 351 professional nurses working in a major North Italian hospital. The questionnaire measures six variables: WFC, job satisfaction, job demand, emotional charge, supportive management and supportive colleagues., Results: The data confirmed the connection between WFC and job satisfaction, and showed the importance of some WFC predictors, such as supportive management, emotional charge and job demand, not only for their connections with WFC but also for their direct associations with job satisfaction., Conclusion: WFC, in health organizations, can contribute to a decrease of nurses' job satisfaction., Implications for Nursing Management: Nursing management could achieve its aim of reducing WFC through the improvement of support from nurse coordinators, the specific organization of work models, ad hoc family-friendly policies and individual counselling programmes for nurses.

Background: Physicians' adherence to cardiovascular (CV) guidelines has been found to be poor. In this regard, accuracy in keeping medical records could play an important role. This study was devised to describe which data are present in medical records from a large sample of physicians and to investigate the association and the link between completeness in recording and clinical appropriateness., Methods: The data extracted from medical records of 1078 doctors (general practitioners, cardiologists, and diabetologists) were analyzed, with a focus on CV prevention. The percentage of recorded data of several CV clinical variables was calculated. A multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the association between doctors' and patients' characteristics and different patterns in recording. Finally, the completeness in recording was calculated with a score and plotted against three indicators of appropriateness., Results: The only risk factor that achieved a good standard of registration was blood pressure (89%). Low-density lipoprotein and waist circumference were largely under-recorded, whereas lifestyle data collection was almost negligible. Age, specialization, and use of electronic records increase the accuracy in recording. When one CV risk factor was predominant, the probability of having other risk factors recorded was reduced. A significant increase in the proportion of patients treated according to guidelines was found in doctors who were more accurate in recording., Conclusion: A link exists between accuracy in recording with both quality of care and adherence to guidelines. Specific training of all doctors in this field should be considered.

Aim: The purpose of this research was to determine the factors that lead to feelings of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction experienced by nurses operating in three Italian hospitals., Background: A high level of job satisfaction is related to a feeling of well-being, productivity and patient satisfaction. Furthermore, job satisfaction is considered capable of reducing turnover and absenteeism., Method: Data were collected using the narrative interview technique. Sixty-four interviews were undertaken, resulting in the collection of 381 stories: 207 referring to job satisfaction experiences and 174 referring to job dissatisfaction experiences., Results: The five job satisfaction factors are: job content; professional relationships; responsibility, independence and professional growth; relationships with patients and their families; and relationships with coordinators. The four job dissatisfaction factors are: coordinator management style; activity programming and organization; relationships with doctors; and relationships with patients., Conclusions: Results indicate that the present nursing management techniques should be improved to become more effective in increasing job satisfaction. To be more precise there emerge three separate areas of improvement: investment in professional training and managerial training; renovation of organizational models; and permanent monitoring of job satisfaction.

Two siblings with high density lipoprotein (HDL) deficiency and no plasma apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I) were found to be homozygous for a cytosine deletion in exon 3 of Apo A-I gene (c.85 del C, Q5FsX11). This mutation causes a frameshift leading to a premature stop codon and abolishes the synthesis of Apo A-I. Although both siblings had corneal opacifications and planar xanthomas, only one of them had premature coronary artery disease, probably as the result of mildly elevated LDL levels. In two other unrelated subjects HDL deficiency was due to heterozygosity for a nucleotide substitution in exon 4 of Apo A-I gene (c.494 T>G, L141R). Both Apo A-I mutations were reported previously in an Italian kindred which included compound heterozygotes and simple heterozygotes. We investigated all carriers of these mutations in the three kindreds and in the one previously reported. Plasma Apo A-I and HDL-C levels were lower in the mutation carriers than in non-carrier family members. These levels, however, were lower in L141R carriers than in carriers of c.85 del C. Haplotype analysis performed using several polymorphisms suggested that both the c.85 del C and L141R are likely to be recurrent mutations.

Background: Glutathione transferases (GSTs) play an important role in the protection of cells from the products of oxidative stress as well as from several environmental carcinogens. The GSTP1-1 gene class is significantly overexpressed in many human tumors. Four allelic variants have been described for the GSTP1-1 gene (*A, *B, *C, *D) leading to different amino acid substitutions in position 105 and 114 of the protein sequence. The proteins encoded by the different alleles show different abilities to metabolize carcinogens and anticancer agents, suggesting an association between GSTP1 polymorphism and the risk for a variety of cancers as well as between said polymorphism and varying responses to cancer treatments., Methods: The GSTP1-1 polymorphism was determined using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer with a Light-Cycler Instrument. ARMS was used in the case of *A/*C or *B/*D heterozygosity. We used this method to determine the GSTP1-1 polymorphism in 250 free-living Italian subjects of both sexes., Results: Among 250 subjects representative of an Italian population, we observed the following allelic frequencies: f(A)=0.710, f(B)=0.236, f(C)=0.054 and f(D)=0. The observed phenotypes are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (chi(2)=0.71, df=4, P=0.95)., Conclusions: We have extended and improved a method of GSTP1-1 complete genotyping. This method provides the ability to genotype 30 samples in 2 h and it represents a fast, reliable and automated methodology to determine GSTP1-1 polymorphism in order to perform large-scale population studies.