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Although the literature is rich in contributions analyzing the role of social workers in sports, there remains a lack of empirical research with respect to how these workers can be determinant in the development of inclusion outcomes in sports-driven interventions targeting socially vulnerable youth. The investigation analyzes the case of a sports-based program run by an Italian non-profit organization (NGO) from an ecological system perspective. Data from interviews and focus groups with youth involved in the program (21), parents (15), sport coaches (9), and the social workers of the NGO (15) were triangulated with the aim of exploring how social workers promoted inclusion through sport. Data were analyzed in a top-down thematic analysis.Findings: Social workers promoted many social inclusion outcomes: (1) they linked sport clubs with the youth excluded from the sport system, thus sustaining access to sport; (2) they emotionally supported youth and their families in the program, fostering the relational dimension of social inclusion; (3) they formed alliances between the diverse systems of youth life, enhancing youth capacity to overcome their personal challenges in sports; and (4) they encouraged the integration of people coming from different socio-economic backgrounds within the sport context.Applications: The case informs the practice of social workers in sport-driven interventions providing insights around the tasks they should achieve to promote social inclusion, including (1) recruitment of youth excluded from the sport system and linkage with sport clubs, (2) sport bureaucracy support, and (3) dialogue with diverse youth life systems.

Training, as a core device in the projects that use sport to increase employability, is today a much-cited element in papers in the sector. However, there seems to be little research that specifically delves into training processes. This contribution analyses the state of the art on the subject, focusing on the characteristics of the training courses mentioned in literature, highlighting some recurring critical issues. A proposal, which considers the limitations discussed above, is formulated as a result of this analysis. More specifically, we introduce, as a contribution to the debate, a training model for team sports coaches developed within the EU Erasmus + sport project SBSMED. Theoretical assumptions, methodology, contents and assessment methods of training effectiveness will be explained, highlighting valuable elements and the open issues that emerge from this experience.

The reception and taking care of forced migrants with mental health issues is undoubtedly a very complex task. The literature shows that reception systems are characterized by a high level of fragmentation due to poor collaboration among services that are required to respond to complex and multidimensional needs brought by forced migrants. Starting from the need to deepen what elements support or hinder the implementation of the services' networks for the care and management of forced migrants, qualitative research was conducted within a constructivist paradigm. As the literature reveals a lack of studies considering the perspective of practitioners, we decided to explore the representations of professionals working with migrants in northern Italy in four different service areas (health and psychological well-being, reception, family, and legal areas). A total of 24 professionals (13 F and 11 M) with an average age of 42.4 years were involved in four focus groups according to the four areas. A paper-pencil content analysis was conducted following IPA guidelines. The results show strengths, weaknesses, and elements of improvement for service network implementation. The needs of forced migrants seem to be effectively met only through a service network that takes shape in the interweaving of social, organizational, group, and individual levels.

Today’s human resource management professionals need to deploy a complex set of competencies to deal with different issues that are threatening organizations’ performance and even their survival. The COVID-19 pandemic set off a situation that involves a rupture with the past, which has made HRM’s fragility and challenges—some of which already existed—emerge in an explosive and faster way. The current scenario can be defined in terms of ambiguity, uncertainty, precariousness, instability, and new possibilities as it never has been before. Changes in traditional work processes and conditions have shaped an environment in which human resource management (HRM) is called on to face issues that range from changes in the way people work and interact in the workplace (rapid digitization, remote and virtual environments, groups, and team working) to the deep representations and meanings related to work, to foster productivity, innovation, and wellbeing. HRM has recently been required to face important challenges because of the increasing complexity of organizations and the multidimensional nature of work. Despite all the advances that have been made in HRM studies, the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis put researchers and practitioners in a position in which they face a lack of framework, procedures, and tools to guide and support professionals’ adjustment to all the drastic changes that happened in the work and social environment. A broader and more interdisciplinary view is required to understand and take on HRM’s changes and challenges and to find new and integrated ways through which HRM can safeguard wellbeing, innovation, and productivity in organizations.

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.

The proposal for the Special Issue "When Are Organizations Sustainable? Well-Being and Discomfort in Working Contexts: Old and New Form of Malaise" is related to a question that is increasingly present and debated by both researchers and practitioners

Background: In the coming years, HR in the banking industry will need to play a leading role to develop human capital management, based on people care, evaluation, development, and training. To properly face this change in one of the biggest Italian banks we wanted to contribute to understanding the actual HR areas of change and examine how HR roles are dealing with “being on the frontline” of an unparalleled organisational evolution. Methods: Six focus-group sessions with up to 10 participants per session. Results: The crucial issue that emerged is a profound rupture and crisis that showed the (already existing) fragilities of the HR role interpretation: develop a new synergic relationship with the top management; define a stronger and wider organisational mandate; establish structured moments of discussion between professionals. Conclusion: HR roles in the banking context, especially after the pandemic, entail a high emotional burden related to role assumption. Specifically, our research highlighted the need to discuss the evolution of the HR role with top management, the need for synergies and a definition of the organisational mandate that allows wider participation in terms of decision-making and planning, and finally the need for supervision of HR roles.

The participation of immigrants in the host community is recognized in the literature as an important protective factor of integration and well-being. Research suggests that there are psychological and social benefits to community engage- ment, but also differences among forms of participation. The first aim is to compare levels of Sense of Community and Self- esteem in engaged and not engaged immigrant youth. Within the subgroup of engaged youth, the second and the third aims are to identify the differences in self-esteem, sense of community (aim 2), motivations, and barriers (aim 3), of those engaged in prosocial activities and in recreational ones. Participants are 510 Italian immigrant youth aged from 19 to 29 (M 1⁄4 23.75, SD 1⁄4 2.92). ANOVA results show that (1) engaged immigrant youths report higher levels of both Sense of Community and Self-Esteem than not engaged ones; (2) for engaged youth, recreational activities better support these outcomes than prosocial; (3) immigrants youths engaged in prosocial activities reported higher levels of prosocial values than those engaged in recreation activities. These last perceive as barriers the difficulty in the Italian language, not having enough information regarding the volunteer and fear of con- flicts more than other groups; those engaged in prosocial activities report health-related problems.

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The COVID-19 pandemic put the Italian health system under great stress. The sudden reorganization of work practices and the emotional impact of the large number of the victims had many consequences on the well-being of the healthcare professionals (HCPs) involved in managing the crisis. In the available literature, most studies have focused on the risk aspects while only few studies also take into account protective factors. For this reason, it was decided to conduct, within psycho-sociological perspective, a qualitative study with the aim to explore in depth the protective and risk factors as experienced by HCPs who worked in the Italian healthcare system during the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted with HCPs-9 nurses and 10 physicians (7M and 12F) with an average age of 43 (SD = 13.4)-selected using snowball sampling. Considering three different levels of analysis the results highlight the protective and risk factors: personal history level (intrinsic/ethical motivation and flexible role versus extrinsic motivation and static role), interpersonal level (perception of supportive relationships with colleagues, patients, and family versus bad relationships), and organizational level (good leadership and sustainable work purpose versus absence of support from management and undefined or confused tasks).

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.

Evolving research has increasingly recognized the crucial role of workers’ well-being in contributing to organizational effectiveness and survival, also studying the different factors that can influence it. This paper explores how the construct of living and working together in organizations (LWTO) can face two current organizational challenges in terms of well-being: 1. keeping a balance between performance and organizational quality of life; 2. managing the relationship with others’ differences. Thus, LTWO is understood as the possibility (or absence) of a good exchange between workers (identity and otherness), related to a clear and shared work purpose within a specific organizational culture of difference that allows diversity of expression through generative conflict. We tested our model using the exploratory structural equation modeling methodology with EQS-6.3. Our results show how well-being is in fact influenced by LWTO and highlights in particular the central role played by work purpose.

Social inclusion is broadly recognized as a priority to accomplish at an international level. While the influence of sport toward this social mission has been largely debated, literature lacks contributions capturing the challenges of sport when promoting social inclusion. Based in case study methodology, the investigation explores the impact of a multi-stakeholder sport initiative developing social inclusion for socially vulnerable youth and the related challenges of the intervention through in- depth interviews with diverse program stakeholders. The main findings indicated the emergence of four challenges: limited transferability of program outcomes for youth in living conditions of severe vulnerability; drop-out of youth in living conditions of severe vulnerability; limited sustainability of program social workers; lack of sports club management skills. The work highlights some limits of sport-based programs for social inclusion and discusses some implications for practice to maximize the societal impact of such interventions.

Self-regulation of learning (SRL) is a key psychological factor that supports young athletes aiming to reach the elite level by promoting their involvement in deliberate practice. We contributed to the validation of the Italian version of the Bartulovic et al. (2017) Self-Regulation of Learning – Self-Report Scale for Sport Practice by testing its factorial structure, reliability, and measurement invariance among elite and non-elite football players, involving 415 male professional, semi-professional, and amateur youth academy players (Mage = 16.2, SD = 1.51). The original six-factor structure (planning, reflection, effort, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and evaluation) did not fit the data well and a five-factor solution (where self-monitoring and evaluation items load on the same factor, named “self-supervision”) was a better fit. This five-factor solution was measurement invariant across groups of elite and non-elite athletes. We found that elite athletes scored significantly higher than non-elite ones in each SRL subprocess. Implications for future validation studies and for the use of this tool are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic put the Italian health system under great stress. The sudden reorganization of work practices and the emotional impact of the large number of the victims had many consequences on the well-being of the healthcare professionals (HCPs) involved in managing the crisis. In the available literature, most studies have focused on the risk aspects while only few studies also take into account protective factors. For this reason, it was decided to conduct, within psycho-sociological perspective, a qualitative study with the aim to explore in depth the protective and risk factors as experienced by HCPs who worked in the Italian healthcare system during the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted with HCPs–9 nurses and 10 physicians (7M and 12F) with an average age of 43 (SD = 13.4)–selected using snowball sampling. Considering three different levels of analysis the results highlight the protective and risk factors: Personal history level (intrinsic/ethical motivation and flexible role versus extrinsic motivation and static role), interpersonal level (perception of supportive relationships with colleagues, patients, and family versus bad relationships), and organizational level (good leadership and sustainable work purpose versus absence of support from management and undefined or confused tasks).

This study focuses on the experiences of professionals working with refugees and asylum seekers in the North of Italy. In the last years, professionals who work in this sector have been exposed to an increasing risk of physical and emotional malaise because of the number of challenges they daily manage. A qualitative study has been conducted with the aim of exploring the resource and the fatigue factors of professionals, in relation to their state of well-being or discomfort. Eight focus groups with multi-professional teams were held in eight refugee centres, for a total of 28 professionals involved (16 males and 12 females). The results allowed the description of three different professional profile conditions: Fatigued, Idealizing and Engaged.

Well-being in youth sport is a growing topic in literature. Practicing sports at a youth level is recognized as an important opportunity for growth and development but also an experience that conversely can prove to be tiring and cause discomfort. Sometimes expectations and pressures make it a risky experience. This is emphasized even more when looking at very popular and spectacular sports, such as football in some European Countries; practicing football often solicits the hope of becoming champions one day and thus being able living thanks to the beloved sport. How do young Italian football practitioners feel? What role do relationships with significant others belonging to the world of sport and extra-sport play on the well-being of young athletes? On which specific aspects of psychological well-being (PWB) are these relationships based? Are there any differences between elite and amateurs levels? These are the questions upon which this paper focuses, considering a sample of young Italian football practitioners. Analysis reveals a strong and positive influence of some dimensions of the relationships with significant others on PWB, specifically team effort, coach closeness, and parental learning climate. Moreover, elite players perceive significantly better relationships than sub-elite and amateurs and have significantly higher levels of PWB. Those results provide a first evidence for the importance of good relationships within and outside sport for an effective development of youth football players since they positively influence players’ PWB, which is higher in elite players. It emerges the necessity to further investigate different aspects of PWB and to deepen the knowledge about the meaning of relationship in developmental athletes according to a psychosocial approach.

Intersectoral actions in the sport-for-development field constitute a pre-condition for the implementation of sport-based interventions. At an operational level, the multi-professional group is the tool through which intersectoral collaboration may successfully achieve its aims. Despite the prominent role of the group, this topic is under-researched in terms of understanding intersectoral actions in the sport-for-development field. By applying a psycho-sociological perspective, our research explores the role of the multi-professional group as a limit/resource for sport-for-development workers that operate with vulnerable youth. Following a phenomenological interpretive approach, 12 practitioners (six sport workers and six social workers) participated in semi-structured interviews to explore the role of multi-professional groups as a resource/limit in working with socially vulnerable youth through sport. The results indicate that, in the participants’ experience, belonging to a multi-professional group is a meaningful resource to trigger reflexivity, promote collaboration and integrate their different professions. The interviews highlighted the positive potential of this tool to address the challenges that emerge when working with socially vulnerable youth, including the management of negative emotions, unexpected events and the relationship with young people. Some interviews also suggested that the presence of multiple professions, under certain circumstances, may be a risk when working with youth. These findings have significant value for programme design, strategy and management as they show the value of trans-disciplinary practices as an agenda for social inclusion through sport.

Although creativity represents a cornerstone for organizations that want to keep up with competitors, customers, and the current socio-economic context, there is a dearth in the literature of systemic and comprehensive models focused on the complexity and addressing several dimensions and factors. In this context, we propose the perspective of “working and living together in organizations” to enrich the scientific dialogue with a proposition that aims to hold together different variables of interaction and relationship between different parts of the organization (Gozzoli, 2016a,b). In fact, according to our previous studies (Frascaroli et al., 2016; Gorli et al., 2016; Marta et al., 2016; Saita et al., 2016; Tamanza et al., 2016), a generative living and working together environment is itself directly linked to creativity and innovative processes. This is because in a generative living and working together environment relationality – that is, the possibility of exchange among workers mediated by the object of work – is enabled. With this study, we intend to provide a contribution to the creativity study field, applying our perspective to an extensive level of analysis. The model was tested using the Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling methodology with EQS-6.3. Our results found some interesting elements in support of the theory behind this study.

In view of the deep crisis affecting Italian prisons and the urgent need to review the sense and meaning of this institution, initiatives promoting innovative custodial and rehab practices are increasing. Our study refers to one of the most advanced Italian prisons as far as prisoners' rehabilitation and re-education are concerned, with activities such as open cells, prisoners' self-organization of recreational–cultural activities, promotion of cooperative working activities both inside and outside the prison, in order to study if and how this detention culture change has caused organizational transformations which affect the professional well-being of operators who manage inmates in penal institutions. A qualitative study involving 15 correctional officers working in the three most critical departments of the building that host the so called “protected” prisoners (long-lasting sentences, drug addicts, and sex offenders) investigates the subjects' experiences and representations of their role and organizational life aspects indicating their professional well-being.

In the current globalized working context, professionals are asked to be able to implement specific competences. Cultural Intelligence is a construct referring to an individual's ability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings and is conceived as an aggregate multidimensional construct. Purpose of this study was to examine the validity of score interpretations of the Italian version of the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS). CQS is aimed to measure individual ability to understand, act and manage effectively in culturally diverse settings. Participants were 755 professionals (females = 64.2%) from different organizational contexts, ranging from 20 to 63 years old (M = 40.4; SD = 10.29). Data were collected with the Italian translated version of the CQS. Results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested good data-model fit. As proposed in the original version, CQS is composed of 20 items and four different theoretical dimensions (Metacognitive, Cognitive, Motivational, and Behavioral) that correlate with each other. This study could be considered a first contribution to fill the lack of self-report measure concerning cultural intelligence in the Italian context with a scale showing promising results.

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