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The search for a composition between plurality and unity of psychology is developed here by articulating a reflection on three points concerning: the origins of the phenomenon of compartmentalization that can be traced back to a dual configuration - plural and fragmented - of psychology; characteristics that are connected but not coincidental; the acceptability of a trans-disciplinary approach to design a composition of psychology that respects its plural articulation; the choice of the area of health as the elective phenomenical field to test the possibility of composing the plurality and unity of psychology starting from a trans-disciplinary approach.

Si afferma in campo scientifico un nuovo approccio transdisciplinare alla salute (TDS) basato sul coinvolgimento partecipativo di più discipline e di più attori (di area scientifica e laica) nella costruzione di risposte alle domande sociali di salute. Descritto il fenomeno della TDS nelle sue caratteristiche principali (storiche, teoriche, me-todologiche) sono messe a fuoco le questioni aperte e le prospettive che tale approccio presenta. Infine, sono argomentate le ragioni per un coinvolgimento partecipativo della psicologia e degli psicologi nell'approccio TDS.

Sono qui rivisti i percorsi di ricerca sviluppati in collaborazione con Marcello Cesa-Bianchi. Sono anzitutto descritti i mutamenti di scenario – sul piano scientifico e sociale – che negli anni '80 orientano gli sviluppi della medicina e che sollecitano l'adozione di un punto di vista psico-sociale nella ricerca. Sono poi illustrati i vari percorsi di ricerca focalizzati sui seguenti temi: professione medica e costruzione sociale della pratica medica, sviluppi della psicologia medica come disciplina, comunicazione sociale e prevenzione dei rischi di salute, qualità percepita e soddisfazione del cittadino per i servizi sanitari, culture e stili di salute della popolazione. Vengono discusse, infine, la rilevanza e l'attualità di questi percorsi di ricerca.

Gli Autori replicano ai contributi sull'articolo-bersaglio "Uno scenario transdisciplinare sulla salute: paradigma per la psicologia e gli psicologi?" sottolineando lo sviluppo di due linee tematiche di riflessione. Da un lato, si osserva un approfondimento delle ragioni a favore di un approccio transdi-sciplinare alla salute e a favore di un impegno della psicologia in tal senso. Da un altro lato, sono poste a tema una serie di "questioni aperte" (dal punto di vista para-digmatico, metodologico, organizzativo, culturale, formativo, istituzionale-politico) che la psi-cologia è chiamata ad affrontare nel prossimo futuro se vorrà orientare il suo sviluppo in chia-ve transdisciplinare. Entrambe le linee sono ritenute essenziali per una verifica di percorribilità dello scenario transdisciplinare da parte della psicologia della salute

Patient engagement is receiving a growing attention in the healthcare context. However, although worldwide healthcare stakeholders agree that patient engagement is a priority for quality and effective care, no shared recommendations on how to promote patient engagement are currently available. Based on these premises, a Consensus Conference (CC) was promoted to address four main issues: What is the definition of Patient Engagement? How measuring Patient Engagement? What are the most recommended methodologies and the tools to promote Patient Engagement? What is the role of new technologies in promoting of Patient Engagement? The consensus was obtained through an iterative process that began with a systematic synthesis of the available literature in each domain followed by plenary expert discussions. This CC - including the systematic analysis of internationals scientific evidences (2749 sources across the major international scientific databases) together with experiences of a multi-disciplinary consortium of investigators and key stakeholders - attempted to provide the first evidence-based Expert Consensus Statement for the promotion of Patient Engagement in chronic care. These recommendations should be envisaged as inspirational principles to promote a real eco-system of engagement and might orient health services research and interventions.

The present study seeks to analyse the predictive capacity of the Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) (a leading index in international market research) in Italy, before and after the global financial crisis. The analysis focuses on the period 2005–2013 and investigates the predictive power of the ICS with regard to two different outcomes: (1) the actual level of household consumption (considering both its absolute value as total spending and its quarterly variations) and (2) consumers' strategies (i.e. reducing their consumption, focusing on discounts and promotions, focusing on quality), both in general and in specific sectors (e.g. food, leisure, health). The study is based on a second-level analysis of data collected by the Italian Statistical Institute (ISTAT) and a tracking survey on Italian consumers' perceptions and strategic intentions (four waves per year, each consisting of 1,000 telephone interviews based on a structured questionnaire). The findings show that the ICS is predictive of quarterly variations in household consumption, and not of its absolute values; that the index is more predictive in the following trimester, while less predictive synchronously (i.e. in the same quarter); and that its predictive power was stronger between 2009 and 2013 compared to previous years. Furthermore, after 2008, the ICS was also predictive of consumer strategies, particularly those aimed at reducing expenses and focusing on quality (while no relation seems to exist between consumer sentiment and consumers' strategies aimed at discounts and promotions). Implications for marketing and market research are discussed.

Patient engagement has been recognized as a key priority in chronic care. However, scholars agree that guidelines are needed to ensure effective patient engagement strategies. To this end, a Consensus Conference process was promoted with the following methodological steps: (1) extensive literature review about patient engagement initiatives in chronic care, (2) a stakeholders survey to collect best practices and (3) workshops with experts. On the basis of the information collected, a consensus statement was drafted, revised, and finalized by a panel of select renowned experts. These experts agreed in defining engagement as an eco-systemic concept involving multiple actors all of which contribute to influence patients&rsquo, willingness and ability to engage in chronic care. Moreover, experts recommended, whenever possible, to adopt standardized instruments to assess engagement levels and related unmet needs. Then, experts strongly advised appropriate trainings for healthcare professionals about patient engagement strategies. Furthermore, the importance of promoting healthcare professionals&rsquo, wellbeing has been advocated. Family caregivers, as well as patients&rsquo, organizations - should be trained and engaged to increase the effectiveness of interventions dedicated to patients. Finally, experts agreed that digital technologies should be considered as a crucial enhancer for patient engagement in chronic care.

I rapporti fra formazione accademica e professioni psicologiche sono qui considerati alla luce di una recente (2012/13) indagine condotta in Italia su un campione rappresentativo (n = 1500) di psicologi iscritti all’ordine professionale. Ragioni interne alla psicologia (anzitutto, la crescita dimensionale della community) e di contesto sostengono l’esigenza di un piu stretto raccordo fra formazione e professione per la psicologia italiana. A fronte di questa esigenza, i risultati della ricerca mostrano un gap evidente fra attese e realta nella formazione accademica: sia di secondo livello (laurea magistrale) sia di terzo livello (scuole di specializzazione, master, dottorati di ricerca) sia relativa alle pratiche di accompagnamento dalla formazione alla professione (tirocini). Indicazioni per un’agenda finalizzata a creare maggiore sinergia fra professione e formazione in psicologia sono proposte in conclusione.

The concept of patient engagement is receiving a growing attention in the healthcare field. The last decades have seen a deep revision of care models in the aim of a greater acknowledge of the patient role, seen as an expert actor, in the healthcare process. On the other side, healthcare systems are facing a growing request for participation expressed by citizens and patients. People claim for being more involved in all the crucial turning point of their healthcare journey and of being better aware of their right and duties. They require a deeper knowledge about all the different therapeutic options with the related risks and advantages. However, although all the different stakeholders agree in considering patient engagement a pragmatic further then ethical priority, a shared consensus related to the strategies and instrument to promote has still to come. Patients and healthcare professional perspective about the factors that may hinder or sustain patient engagement still need to be further studied and at shared recommendations - about the programs better effective and efficient in promoting patient engagement - are still missed. Based on these premises, Università Cattolica of Milano and DG Welfare of Regione Lombardia, under the methodological supervision of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, promoted a consesus conference entitled "Recommendation for promoting patient engagement in healthcare for chronic conditions". This consensus conferences constituted the occasion of sharing and discussion among experts belonging to different clinical and institutional contexts as well as with representative of patients associations in order to identify good practices and effective tools to promote patient engagement in the care and cure process for chronic conditions.

Il lavoro considera lo stato e le prospettive di sviluppo della Psicologia della Salute (PS) come professione in Italia. Operato un inquadramento del tema sul piano storico e concettuale (prospettiva teorica di analisi: professionalizzazione come costruzione sociale), sono presentati e discussi i risultati di una ricerca sul campo condotta con una metodologia di tipo quantitativo su un campione (rappresentativo a livello nazionale) di 1.500 psicologi iscritti agli ordini professionali. La ricerca analizza il ruolo della salute come organizzatore delle pratiche e dei posizionamenti professionali della psicologia in Italia, nonche le variazioni di quadro intervenute nel periodo 2008-2012. Dai dati emergono 3 indicazioni di fondo. A) La PS si configura oggi come un promettente organizzatore professionale, piu potenziale che attuale. Il processo di professionalizzazione della PS appare in questo senso prioritario e urgente. B) La professionalizzazione della PS richiede una progettazione "al plurale", basata su un’articolazione di profili e posizionamenti professionali coerenti con i diversi contesti entro cui la PS si applica. C) Tale progettazione richiede anche una risposta proattiva ai segnali di innovazione e di discontinuita oggi leggibili nell’evoluzione delle professioni psicologiche in Italia (crisi dei rapporti con il welfare, scenario neo-professionale).

Applying paths in psychology are analysed such as plural construction of interlacement between a phenomenon (social field) and an expert knowledge (specific science). Outcomes are outlined according to the possible role played by the phenomenon in the construction of applying practice (= text). Three possible paths are introduced and described where the phenomenon assumes the role of: a) pre-post-text (i.e. activator of a scientific research and receptor of its results); b) con-text (i.e. guide/innovator of the research paradigmatic glance); c) in-text (constructor of the research process itself on the basis of the demand for knowledge/intervention expressed by the social domain). Finally, the paper discusses implications on the methodology of applying, as well as on professionalization of applied research in psychology.

Currently we observe a gap between theory and practices of patient engagement. If both scholars and health practitioners do agree on the urgency to realize patient engagement, no shared guidelines exist so far to orient clinical practice. Despite a supportive policy context, progress to achieve greater patient engagement is patchy and slow and often concentrated at the level of policy regulation without dialoguing with practitioners from the clinical field as well as patients and families. Though individual clinicians, care teams and health organizations may be interested and deeply committed to engage patients and family members in the medical course, they may lack clarity about how to achieve this goal. This contributes to a wide “system” inertia—really difficult to be overcome—and put at risk any form of innovation in this filed. As a result, patient engagement risk today to be a buzz words, rather than a real guidance for practice. To make the field clearer, we promoted an Italian Consensus Conference on Patient Engagement (ICCPE) in order to set the ground for drafting recommendations for the provision of effective patient engagement interventions. The ICCPE will conclude in June 2017. This document reports on the preliminary phases of this process. In the paper, we advise the importance of “fertilizing a patient engagement ecosystem”: an oversimplifying approach to patient engagement promotion appears the result of a common illusion. Patient “disengagement” is a symptom that needs a more holistic and complex approach to solve its underlined causes. Preliminary principles to promote a patient engagement ecosystem are provided in the paper.

Research on job insecurity has traditionally focused on organizational consequences. The present study explores potential extraorganizational outcomes (employees’ consumption and life projects) of job insecurity in terms of both subjective perception and objective condition. Results are based on the secondary analysis of two large data sets: a tracking study with representative samples and a survey, both conducted on Italian employees. The findings suggest that job insecurity (especially the subjective perception, rather than the objective condition) may be associated with sacrifices of daily consumption (e.g. buying groceries, apparel, or entertainment) and life projects (e.g. buying a home, marrying, or having children).

This article describes the conceptual foundation of a Master's programme in qualitative methods aimed at training professional qualitative researchers in the field of social and marketing psychology. Two principles underpin the Master's project: anchorage to research questions generated by the real social context as the driver of the entire development of the research project (i.e., ‘issue-based research’); and the adoption of what is called ‘process methodology’ as the methodological interconnection between the features of the social field (i.e., the context of the research) and of the research field (i.e., the study's scope). In practice, process methodology requires the learning of three sets of competences (content, contextual and flow) related to qualitative research. Those competences are devoted to the implementation and management of applied qualitative research able to produce situated knowledge and to enhance the transferability and usability of that knowledge. The article gives details of both the didactic structure of the programme as well as the teaching devices adopted.

The last decades' changes in the epidemiological trends of chronic disease - also due to the ageing population - and the increased length and quality of life among the majority of Western population have introduced important changes in the organization and management of the healthcare systems. Consequently, health systems throughout the world are searching for new and effective ways to make their services more responsive to new patients and the public's health needs and demands. The idea of patient engagement - borrowed from the marketing conceptualization of consumer engagement - moves from the assumption that making patients/clients co-producers of their health can enhance their satisfaction with the healthcare system as well as their responsibility in both care and prevention by improving clinical outcomes and reducing health delivery costs. To make people aware of their health services options by supporting them in the decision-making process and to engage them in enacting preventive and healthy behaviors is vital for achieving successful health outcomes and preventing waste of resources. In this chapter, we outline a model (PHE model) that explains the patients' subjective experience with their health management process and the levers that may enact the passage from one phase of the process to the other. Based on this conceptual model of patient engagement will be proposed a tool kit of priority actions that may sustain the patient in its process of engagement.

Brand communication specialists are paying increasing attention to new unconventional methods of communicating messages. One such method is ambient communication; a complex form of communication that uses elements of public spaces to convey messages designed to increase customer engagement in corporate objectives. Health communication experts agree that these methods are potentially capable of increasing both an individual's engagement with health communication and the chances that preventive information become part of peers’ discourses. However little research has been done to assess the condition under which these new, alternative methods can effectively communicate health promotion messages. This article is based on the preliminary results of a qualitative study aimed at assessing the effectiveness conditions of ambient communication to prevent unsafe practices. The study considers an ambient initiative recently promoted in Brescia (Italy) by the public institutions to reduce drink-driving by young peo...

The financial contribution to the common good is a relevant issue to contemporary societies, especially in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. In the economic literature, taxes and monetary donations have been regarded as two complementary ways of financially providing for the common good. In the psychological literature, instead, they have not been studied in conjunction. In-depth interviews have been conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach and a photo-elicitation technique to investigate the representations people share on the financial provision for the common good. Results suggest that both taxes and donations are seen as indirect, rather than direct, ways of providing for the common good. From a formal and cognitive level, paying taxes and making donations can be seen as two sides of the same coin, but they present differences at the affective level. When paying taxes, people are concerned mostly about the effects and expect a material exchange in return; when making a monetary donation, people are concerned mostly about the motivations and expect an emotional exchange in return.

Is presenting a fiscal bonus as an income increase (a gain) the same as presenting it as a tax rebate (a loss reduction)? This paper aims to answer this question with two studies. Study 1 is a survey carried out in Italy to explore citizens’ perceptions of a fiscal reform introduced in 2005. It shows both effects imputable to the methods used to describe the bonus and differences between respondents belonging to different occupational groups. But it does not allow disentangling these factors. Study 2 aims to investigate whether and how (1) the frame used to describe a fiscal bonus and (2) taxpayers’ occupational status, influence their evaluation of this tax reduction and the uses they intend to make of it. To this end, 252 participants belonging to different occupational groups were submitted to two between-subject framing conditions (the bonus being described as a reduced loss or as a gain). They were then asked to evaluate the bonus’ importance for their personal wealth and to state how they intended to use it. Results demonstrate that the frame, rather than the occupational status of the respondent, influences taxpayers’ responses to the bonus. Respondents attached a higher importance to the bonus and were keener to save it when it was described as a loss reduction, compared to it being presented as a gain. These results are interpreted with reference to Prospect Theory, producing new insights into the processes through which framing can affect fiscal policy evaluations. The study is also relevant from a pragmatic perspective, as it shows that the way fiscal policy is communicated can be decisive for the achievement of economic and political goals.

L'insicurezza lavorativa: antecedenti e conseguenti extra organizzativi - Psychological research usually studied antecedents and consequents of job insecurity at an intra-organizational level. This paper aims to: analyze the relationship between contract (temporary vs. permanent work) and job insecurity; propose a model of antecedents for job insecurity; explore the effects of job insecurity on extra-organizational contexts. Results derive from secondary analysis of two databases and from a qualitative research conducted following a grounded theory approach. Results show: the weak relationship between contract and job insecurity; the need to consider broader antecedents, such as social context, interpersonal and media exchange; the impact of job insecurity on consumption behaviors and other extra-organizational aspects of life.

Mass media health communication and the context of social exchanges: what interlacement? - In this paper we discuss the results of a research program that was aimed at analysing of the situational context in which the interpersonal exchange has place the role in mediating the passage from the reception to the "use" of mass-media preventive information. The study consisted in 32 focus groups with young people (18-25 years old), on different topics related to health risks (HIV/AIDS, Alcool, smoking, light drugs), in 4 different situational contexts (face-to-face; on-line forum; on-line chat; on-line forum+chat). The study main evidences show that the different contexts of the exchange specifically influence the interpersonal "re-use" of mass-media preventive information. In particular the forum+chat seems to be the context that best orients the preventive message elaboration in the sense of a personal revision of one own’s unsafe practices. Key words: health communication; social exchange; context of the exchange; Internet; qualitative research; focus group Parole chiave: comunicazione alla salute; scambio sociale; contesto di scambio; Internet; ricerca qualitativa; focus group

Objective In approaching the study and practice of heart failure (HF) management, authors recognise that the patient–doctor relationship has a central role in engaging patients in their care. This study aims at identifying the features and the levers of HF patient engagement and suggestions for orienting clinical encounters. Design Using a grounded theory approach, we conducted 22 in-depth interviews (13 patients with HF, 5 physicians and 4 caregivers). Data were collected and analysed using open, axial and selective coding procedures according to the grounded theory principles. Settings All interviews were conducted in an office in a university hospital located in a metropolitan area of Milan, Italy. Participants The data comprised a total of 22 patient, hospital cardiologist and caregiver interviews. Patients aged ≥18 years with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Class of II or III were eligible to take part. Patients were recruited primarily through their referral cardiologist. Results The HF patient engagement process develops in four main phases that are characterised by different patients’ emotional, cognitive and behavioural dynamics that contribute to shape the process of a patient9s meaning making towards health and illness regarding their care. The emerging model illustrates that HF patient engagement entails a meaning-making process enacted by the patient after the critical event. This implies patients’ ability to give sense to their care experience and to their disease, symptomatology and treatments, and their changes along their illness course. Doctors are recognised as crucial in fostering patients’ engagement along all the phases of the process as they contribute to providing patients with self-continuity and give new meaning to their illness experience. Conclusions This study identifies the core experiential domains and the main levers involved in driving patients with HF to effectively engage in their disease management. The model emerging from this study may help clinicians think in a fresh way about encounters with patients and their role in fostering their patients’ health engagement.

The authors focus their analysis in this article on online focus groups (FGs), in an attempt to describe how the setting shapes the conversational features of the discussion and influences data construction. Starting from a review of current dominant viewpoints, they compare face-to-face discussion groups with different formats of online FGs about AIDS, from a discourse analysis perspective. They conducted 2 face-to-face FGs, 2 chats, 2 forums, and 2 forums+plus+chat involving 64 participants aged 18 to 25 and living in Italy. Their findings seem not only to confirm the hypothesis of a general difference between a face-to-face discussion setting and an Internet-mediated one but also reveal differences among the forms of online FG, in terms of both the thematic articulation of discourse and the conversational and relational characteristics of group exchange, suggesting that exchanges on HIV/AIDS are characterized by the setting. This characterization seems to be important for situating the choice of tool, according to research objectives, and for better defining the technical aspects of the research project.

Academic and managerial interest in patient engagement is rapidly earning attention and becoming a necessary tool for researchers, clinicians and policymakers worldwide to manage the increasing burden of chronic conditions. The concept of patient engagement calls for a reframe of healthcare organizations' models and approaches to care. This also requires innovations in the direction of facilitating the exchanges between the patients and the healthcare. eHealth, namely the use of new communication technologies to provide healthcare, is proved to be proposable to innovate healthcare organizations and to improve exchanges between patients and health providers. However, little attention has been still devoted to how to best design eHealth tools in order to engage patients in their care. eHealth tools have to be appropriately designed according to the specific patients' unmet needs and priorities featuring the different phases of the engagement process. Basing on the Patient Engagement model and on the Positive Technology paradigm, we suggest a toolkit of phase-specific technological resources, highlighting their specific potentialities in fostering the patient engagement process.

Italian general practitioners (GPs) were surveyed to assess their experience in treating HIV patients: asymptomatic HIV patients (P-HIV) and patients with AIDS (P-AIDS). The GPs' attitudes towards treating P-HIV/P-AIDS, their feelings of competence and their interest in improving their competence were also assessed. The survey was based on structured interviews conducted In November 1992 on a stratified random sample of 900 GPs. Half the sample answered questions about P-AIDS, while the other half answered questions about P-HIV. The percentage of GPs who have treated patients was 10% for P-AIDS and 34% for P-HIV. They generally judged this experience negatively due to its dramatic nature, as well as their sense of therapeutic helplessness and the difficulties they have when communicating with the patients and, to some degree, even with the hospital centres. The majority of subjects were willing to treat patients (56% P-AIDS and 65% P-HIV). This willingness leaned more towards psychological or educational assistance than medical therapy. Discriminant analysis demonstrates that the willing GPs were younger and felt more committed to their profession. Once again, the majority of the interviewees also stated they do not feel competent enough to treat patients (78% P-AIDS and 70% P-HIV) and that they were personally interested in improving their own skills in this area. This paper stresses the importance of careful evaluation of the opportunity of getting GPs more involved in dealing with P-HIV/P-AIDS.

Despite the fact that older adults are healthier than in the past, the current trend of an ageing population implies an increased risk and severity of chronic diseases. Low-resource healthcare systems face increased organizational healthcare costs, which is likely to result in an allocation of limited health resources. Healthcare organizations themselves must deal with patients' increasing need for a more active role in all the steps of the careamp; cure process. Technological advances may play a crucial role in sustaining people's health management in daily life, but only if it is "ecologically" designed and well-attuned to people's health needs and expectations. Healthcare is more and more called to orient innovative research approaches that recognize the crucial role of a person's engagement in health and well-being. This will enable patients to reach a higher quality of life and achieve a general psychophysical well-being. Thus, positive technological innovation can sustain people's engagement in health and invoke community empowerment, as we shall discuss in this document.

In this paper we discuss the unique influences of ethics assessment procedures on comparative qualitative research. These influences are particularly pronounced when researchers are from different disciplines and in different countries. Focusing on our experience conducting a study on the perceptions of young people regarding HIV/AIDS in two countries (Italy and Canada), we describe the impact of the ethics assessment procedures in our respective countries on recruitment, sampling and comparability of findings. We also raise issues related to differences in ethics assessment processes from a disciplinary perspective. We conclude by suggesting that our theory of technique approach, which focuses on studying how the choices made in research implementation influence the study findings, should be extended to include the impact of ethics assessment procedures.

Questo contributo esplora quanto offerto dalle neuroscienze all’indagine sull’efficacia della comunicazione pubblicitaria. La chiave di lettura e insieme storica e prospettica: l’obiettivo non e solo evidenziare il valore aggiunto apportato dalle nuove strumentazioni alla valutazione dell’efficacia pubblicitaria, ma anche individuare gli sviluppi recenti potenzialmente piu rilevanti per gli anni a venire.

Bere un soft drink: un comportamento di consumo usuale per molti milioni di italiani, come vedremo piu avanti, aproblematico nella sua quotidianita, ma non banale e di non semplice decifrazione. Polarizzato da sempre fra riconosciute (a volte mitizzate) valenze edonistiche e perplessita/dubbi sul versante salutistico, il “bere dolce e gassato” interroga ed e interrogate: alla ricerca di una costruzione di senso complessa, ove nessuna forma di sapere scientifico — scienze mediche comprese, come ben sottolinea il contribute in questo libro di Marco Trabucchi — puo avanzare la pretesa di una comprensione egemonica del fenomeno.

Starting from a review of current dominant points of view about online focus groups, the authors outline the results of a research project in which they compared face-to-face discussion groups with different formats of online focus groups (forum; chat; forum plus chat) in order to identify their methodological specificities. The comparison was conducted with young adults on three health-related topics with different levels of social sensitivity. Systematic analysis of the conversational and thematic characteristics of all discussion transcripts revealed interesting characteristics of the four focus group techniques considered. The results corroborate the view that the research setting influences the findings production process in qualitative research, and might be the basis for a theory of online focus group techniques that can orient the researcher in choosing the online focus group technique best suited to his or her study aims and topics.

Recently there has been renewed interest in cross-cultural qualitative research underscoring the epistemological and methodological pitfalls implied in this kind of research. In particular, focus groups, because of their intrinsically relational nature, require an accurate analysis of how the setting influences interpersonal exchanges and people’s attitudes toward participation and, thus, the results achieved. In this chapter, the authors consider how the data collection medium framed the results of a study involving 16 focus groups on HIV/AIDS, 8 conducted with Italians and 8 with Canadians aged 18 to 25. The focus groups were designed to reflect four techniques (face-to-face, online forum, online chat, online forum+chat) and were distributed equally in the two countries. Data were analysed using software-based content analysis (T-lab), psychosocial discourse analysis, software-based discourse analysis (Atlas.ti), and conversational analysis. The different techniques had specific influences on the findings production, which were fairly consistent between the two countries. The authors discuss the importance of these findings in cross-cultural qualitative studies, as researchers frequently make situated choices regarding data gathering in various settings according to their research objectives.