Edoardo Lozza

Giving patients a starring role in their own care: a bibliometric analysis of the on-going literature debate.

Patient‐centred care has been advocated as a key component of high‐quality patient care, yet its meanings and related actions have been difficult to ascertain.

Temporary employment, job insecurity and their extraorganizational outcomes

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).

An exploratory study on the Italian patients’ preferences regarding how they would like to be told about their cancer

GoalMajor cross-cultural differences in truth-telling attitudes and practices have been demonstrated. Until recently, in Italy the doctor could conceal both diagnosis and prognosis to seriously ill patients out of beneficence. Signs of change have been reported, but the extent and way patients would be informed is still unknown. The aim of the study was to assess Italian patients’ preferences regarding how they would like to be told about their cancer and its treatment. We examined the factor structure of the Measure of Patients’ Preferences—Italian version (MPP-It) and whether demographical and medical variables were associated with the dimensions of patients’ preferences.Materials and methodsPatients were invited to participate during a visit to the oncology department of the Lecco hospital (Italy) for chemotherapy or follow-up. An Italian version of the MPP-It was administered. Data were analyzed through a factor analysis.Main resultsA total of 210 cancer patients agreed to participate. Three main factors were identified: (1) Information (Talking About the Disease). Items in this factor were concerned with the dialogue about the disease and treatment options; (2) Support (The Emotional World of the Patient). These items referred to the supportive and relational aspects of the physician–patient encounter; (3) Care (The Ideal Doctor). These items related to the patients’ desires about the doctor’s personal attributes.ConclusionsThe first two factors, information and support, were comparable to those of similar American and Asian studies. The study suggests a cross-cultural uniformity among cancer patients who appreciate the informative and clearness of the communication aspects as being primarily important, while also giving high points to relationship aspects. The third factor appears unique to the Italian context.

A new approach for psychological consultation: the psychologist at the chemist's

BackgroundThe prevalence of mental illness and psychological suffering is greater than the availability of primary care services in Europe and, in particular, in Italy. The main barriers that hinder the access to these services are economic, the lack of proximity of services and some prejudices that may promote stigma and shame.A new mental health service, named “Psychologist in the Neighbourhood” was created to intercept unexpressed needs for psychological assistance. The service allows everyone to ask for free psychological consultation, consisting of no more than four meetings with a psychologist, in certain chemists’ shops around the city of Milan. This article aims to present the service specific features of this initiative and the results of a pilot study.MethodsInformation gathered on all users included socio-demographic data, the reasons why they approached this specific service, how they learnt about it, the main presented problem and, for a random sub-group, the level of psychological well-being (as measured by the PGWBI). Socio-demographic data were compared with previously collected information about general users of psychological services. The outcome of the intervention was assessed by the clinicians.ResultsDuring the two-year project a total of 1,775 people accessed the service. Compared to traditional users of psychological services, the participants in this service were characterized by a higher presence of females, unemployed and retired people. The main factors encouraging access were proximity and the fact that the service was free of charge. Many of the users were redirected to more specific services, while for about a third of the sample the consultation cycle was sufficient to resolve the presented problem.ConclusionsThe interest and participation of the population was high and this initiative intercepted an unexpressed requirement for psychological support. Free access and home proximity, were the main reasons for accessing this specific service. Subjects were mostly re-directed to appropriate services, while about a third of the sample addressed and resolved their problem with the psychologist in the chemist’s shop.These encouraging results suggest the benefits of bringing psychological consultations closer to citizens, particularly to those who cannot afford it, reducing socio-economic inequalities.

Lay People Representations on the Common Good and Its Financial Provision

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.

Counterfeiting of perfume: Motivation and barriers to consumption

Understanding the motivations underlying the consumption of counterfeit products is crucial to contrast this illicit market and to develop a culture of anti-counterfeiting. However, there is a gap in the literature on the topic, in particular from a psychological perspective. We therefore propose an exploratory research, focused on the market of perfumes, made up of two studies: a motivational analysis on consumption of counterfeit perfume and a netnographyc analysis of spontaneous conversations emerged in dedicated forums. The results provide a preliminary map of the motivations and resistances underlying the consumption of counterfeit perfume, furthermore identifying 3 different consumer profiles. The research aims to start a psychological research field on counterfeiting.

The effects of changes in job insecurity on daily consumption and major life decisions

Traditionally, research on job insecurity (JI) has focused on organizational consequences and employees’ psychophysical well-being. However, some recent studies explored potential extraorganizational outcomes of JI in relation to consumption and major life decisions. The present study, drawing on Conservation of Resource Theory, overcomes the limits of previous works by examining the effects of changes in JI through a simulation experiment design. Using a sequence of two different scenarios, 377 participants were asked to evaluate their JI and their inclination towards daily consumption and some major life decisions. Findings confirm that changes in JI affect such extraorganizational outcomes. It is also suggested that an improvement in job security leads to an increase in both consumption and major life decisions, which – in absolute values – is higher compared to the decrease that follows a reduction of job security.

Increasing employability in the emerging tourism sector in Mozambique: Results of a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Mozambique’s tourism sector could play a key role in the country’s socio-economic development, especially in the region of Cabo Delgado where the demand for tourist services is expected to increase. Nonetheless, several constraints (e.g. the lack of adequate training) are hindering the capacity of local people to take full advantage of this opportunity. Qualitative research has been performed in order to align vocational training programmes with the needs of the emerging tourism sector. Local and foreign key informants were interviewed in order to gain a better understanding of training needs and to gain insights into developing training programmes that can enhance local people’s employability. The main findings highlight the lack of symbolisation of tourism and its correlates from local communities. Therefore, rather than just delivering technical skills, training programmes should also promote a ‘culture of tourism’ and a more favourable attitude towards ‘working in the tourism sector’.

Articolo bersaglio : psicologi : quale formazione per quale professione?

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.

La fiducia del consumatore in due contesti economici differenti

Measures of consumer confidence, such as the Index of Consumer Sentiment, have gained an important pragmatic role in describing the economic climate of a country. Being a quantitative measure, the nature of the index has long been taken for granted, without questioning what is the real meaning of «consumer confidence» for the actors involved, how do they define the idea of being confident about the economy, and why do they respond in a certain way to the items of the index.Given the lack of qualitative studies that could help understanding better the point of view of the respondents, the present explorative and cross-cultural study aims to deepen and compare the meaning of consumer confidence and the processes that lie behind the answers given by the interviewers to the index items. In order to accomplish this, semi-structured interviews have been conducted in two countries with contrasting economic conditions: Italy and Australia.Although the nature of this research is explorative and circumstantial, results show a multifaceted interpretation of the «consumer confidence» and slightly different cognitive processes in answering the items of the index; this suggests a possible revision of the index itself.