Mary Ellen Toffle

Differences between adolescents exhibiting moderate binging and non-binging eating behaviors

Much research has been conducted to study the association between personality and eating disorders using clinical samples. However, less research has been done on personality variables in non-clinical cases of adolescents prone to binge eating. The purpose of this study is to compare a group of 53 adolescents without binge eating with a group of 28 adolescents with moderate binging behaviors and to investigate the relationship between personality traits and eating behaviors. All participants completed BES, STAY, EPQ-R, IVE and EDI-2. The results demonstrated that the group with moderate binging presented higher scores in state and trait anxiety, psychoticism, neuroticism, and impulsivity than the adolescents without binge eating. The second hypothesis of this research was to analyze the relationship between personality characteristics and eating behaviors. In the group of adolescents without binge eating both neuroticism and psychoticism correlated with ED symptomatology. Similarly extraversion, impulsivity and venturesomeness correlated with ED symptomatology. In the group of adolescents with moderate binge eating, there was an association of trait anxiety, extraversion, venturesomeness and empathy with ED symptomatology in university samples. The results of this study represent a new stimulus to thoroughly investigate those aspects of personality that may be predictive of ED symptomatology and to develop preventative strategies. It is our opinion that it is necessary to focus attention not only on clinical or non-clinical samples, but also on adolescents who could be considered at risk.

The burnout syndrome in palliative home care workers: the role of coping strategies and metacognitive beliefs

Healthcare professionals are daily confronted with events involving the suffering of others, which are likely to generate highly negative and stressful emotions. In palliative care the emotional commitment is exacerbated by the constant confrontation with the theme of suffering and death. The failure to successfully down-regulate negative emotions is a key risk factor for a severe form of discomfort, known as burnout syndrome . Burnout is a psychological state of exhaustion, related to stress at work. Maslach (1996) describes it as a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Recent studies have shown that healthcare worker coping strategies may function either as a risk or aprotective factor for the development of distress and emotional problems. Furthermore, other studies highlighted the role of the dimensions of metacognition as vulnerability factors in predicting the development of psychological symptoms. The aim of this study is to examine and assess the relationships between burnout, coping strategies and metacognitive beliefs in workers involved in home palliative care. The hypothesis of the present work is that the appropriate use of positive and flexible coping strategies and functional metacognitive beliefs may relate to the management of distress and emotional problems. A group of operators working in a team of Integrated Home Palliative Care participated in the research.The study was based on a protocol including the Italian version of MCQ-30, used to assess a range of metacognitive beliefs and processes relevant to vulnerability and maintenance of emotional disorders; the Brief Cope (BC) to survey coping strategies; Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to measure burnout. The questionnaire includes a socio-demographical section. The results show the presence of a statistically significant correlation between the variables investigated.