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Palliative care practice is associated with risk factors linked to end-of-life, chronicity, personal, interpersonal, and work characteristics, as well as with protective factors, but how these are perceived by the health care providers themselves is not clear. This article aims to elaborate a theoretical framework explaining the risk and protective factors for palliative care providers in their daily practice. Nineteen providers (16 nurses, 3 physicians) working in a palliative care unit of a clinical-research institute in Northern Italy were interviewed. A Grounded Theory qualitative approach guided the data collection and analysis. From the interviews, 28 codes, subsequently organized into 11 interconnected categories, emerged. They described both stressors (emotion management regarding death/dying, conflicts, communication and relationship with patients/caregivers, discrepancies between patients' and caregivers' needs, communication of poor diagnosis/prognosis, decision making about treatment, and real-life and work interference) and protective factors (social support, positive approach and value of past experience, recognized value of/passion toward professional work, work-family balance). Experiencing these elements as positive or negative depends on the professionals' point of view, as well as their past and present experience. Understanding what dealing with life-limiting illnesses means may suggest tailored interventions to improve professionals' well-being by fostering the protective elements and combatting the risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The use of technology by children and adolescents to communicate has numerous advantages, but it is also associated with cyberbullying and cybervictimization. Risk and protective factors are numerous and interact with each and are important to reduce such behaviors. Among these factors, parental online involvement can reduce cyberbullying or cybervictimization. The parental role can be positive by actively supervising and monitoring online activities or by restricting what their children are doing. Monitoring, supervising or even controlling what their children do online will enable them to see and whether they are involved in some way in cyberbullying. This was the focus of our study. Parents can also control and then limit use of technology and online access. Both approaches are beneficial; however, controlling and limiting can make the child-parent relationship distant, with children not sharing their online problems, and parents not knowing what their children might be doing. This paper looks at the relationship of these online parental roles with adolescent's involvement in cyberbullying and cybervictimization, to help parents and adults in general, to equip them most efficiently to protect their children from avoidable harm and problems. A total of 4390 Italian adolescents aged 13–20 years completed a paper and pencil self-report questionnaire, with results indicating that risk factors for cyberbullying include being a boy, being older, and spending more hours online, as well as parental control of online activities which is a very broad concept but could facilitate parents be aware of whether their children are involved in cyberbullying or cybervictimization. Concerning cybervictimization, risk factors were being older, spending more hours online, and inadequate parental supervision. Differences emerged between boys and girls. Highlights • 1 boy in 3 is involved in cyberbullying and similarly in cybervictimization. • 1 girl in 4 is involved in cyberbullying and 1:3 in cybervictimization. • Half of the adolescents reported their parents not having any information or access to their online activities. • Cyberbullying boys reported almost three times more than cyberbullying girls' poor parental online supervision. and almost twice poorer parental control of online activities and social network supervision. • Cybervictim girls reported more than twice higher poor parental online supervision, boys reported twice poorer parental control of online activities and psocial network supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete lockdown in many countries and Italy was the first country interested in Europe, as the cases spread very quickly with a high rate of mortality. While the lockdown strategy is an essential step to curb the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases, it can have a significative impact on mental health on the population involved, that is still not well known and must be explored. The objective of the present research is to investigate the Quality of Life (QoL) and Symptoms of PTSD (PTSS) encountered during the quarantine period (April 2020) due to the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. Participants (N = 1839; 1430 females and 409 males), who were volunteers and anonymous, adults (18-73 years), were drawn from a convenience sample of the general population and asked to fill out an online questionnaire, after giving an informed written consent. The General Health Questionnaire (GH12), used to assess health related QoL, identified 24.5% of respondents as problematic, and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), used to assess PTSS, identified the 23.5% with clinical scores. Results showed that married people/cohabitants, non-workers, and those with a lower level of education perceived a better QoL and less PTSS. The most frequent emotions felt during the first month of quarantine and referred to by participants were sadness (72%), boredom (54.5%), impotence (52%), and anxiety (50%). The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most stressful events in recent times worldwide and poses a major challenge for social, economic, and, above all, psychological resources of the population that must be assessed and supported if insufficient.