Dynamic and Clinical Psychology

Progetto PRETEP: Programma di Supporto alla Riforma del Sistema della Formazione Tecnico -Professionale attualmente in corso in Mozambico su finanziamento del Governo Italiano Report sulle attività di collaborazione scientifica tra la Facoltà di Psicologia 1, Coordinatore scientifico della fase di ricerca-intervento con i focus group: Prof.ssa Manuela Tomai (Equipe di psicologi: Dott.ssa Maria di Nocera; Dott. Mario Scerbo; Dott.ssa Romina Rubino; Dott.ssa Francesca Esposito; Dott.ssa Marta Bianchi; Dott.ssa Flaminia Propersi; Dott.ssa Daria Rostirolla; Dott.ssa Valentina Pirrò; Dott. Riccardo Sardi De Letto. Progetto PRETEP: Programma di supporto alla riforma del sistema della formazione tecnicoprofessionale attualmente in corso in Mozambico su finanziamento del governo italiano Report sulle attività di collaborazione scientifica tra la Facoltà di Psicologia 1,

Una ricerca psicologico-clinica esplora la Cultura Locale (i significati emozionali condivisi da chi partecipa a un contesto, atti a mantenere stabilità e coesione, a regolare e l’emozionalità dei processi di convivenza) di un quartiere della periferia romana nel momento della pianificazione di servizi per la comunità. La ricerca è fondata sulla analisi del testo computer assistita (Analisi Emozionale del Testo) di interviste somministrate a 8 figure chiave, e sulla analisi delle corrispondenze multiple di 314 questionari sulla percezione soggettiva della qualità di vita e sulla anticipazione dei rapporti sociali, somministrati a cittadini del quartiere. I risultati della analisi di interviste e questionari hanno messo in luce la qualità di vita come soggettivamente percepita dagli abitanti e le caratteristiche della cultura locale del territorio oggetto dello studio. Vengono fornite indicazioni pragmatiche sulla attivazione di servizi coerenti con la cultura locale del territorio e...

This study analyzes inter-family relationships of families with children with neurological problems using Bowlby?s attachment theory as model of reference. The research was conducted in two hospitals in Serbia specialized in neurological diseases: cerebral palsy and epilepsy. It is hypothesized that neurological problems could be associated to a discrepancy of inter-family attachment perceptions. Two groups were selected, a clinical one composed of 25 nuclear families: mother, father and child with a certified diagnosis of either cerebral palsy or epilepsy; and a control group of 25 nuclear families: mother, father and child with no pathology. Kerns, Klepac and Cole?s Security Scale (1996) was used for the investigation, with the addition of two modified version for administration to the parents. Data analysis demonstrated that the clinical group is substantively higher (p=.076) with respect to the discrepancy of attachment perceived by the children and the attribution of meaning th...

family-Institute relationship and the family's representation and satisfaction of the Institute (7 interviews with 13 hearing impaired parents and non-hearing impaired parents). The institute activity seemed to be more characterized by the maintenance of the relationship with the families per se, rather than oriented to productive goals. The non hearing impaired parents seemed to be more satisfied than the hearing-impaired parents, possibly because the former are more prepared to receive the Institute's help. The stalled productivity can only be overcome by the elaboration of those relational/emotional dynamics which prevent staff members and children's parents from focusing on productive goals. The staffmembers' training should be improved in order to develop specific competences, to perform an integrated, multidisciplinary approach in treatments, to negotiate with the families, and share the work program and treatment objectives with them.

This article synthesizes the long-lasting counseling process of a family with a child suffering from a chronic illness. The provided intervention model draws on a series of principles from various theoretical approaches, namely systemic, psychodynamic, and resiliency. Family functioning and support is considered a catalytic parameter in assisting children with disabilities to fully develop their potential. This project is based on a family and child-centered integrative counseling model adopting the nonmedical conception of disability. Through the presentation of a case study of a couple who faced a critical situation in the life of their child, this article briefly describes the way the family dynamics were readdressed through this intervention counseling model. In addition, this work attempts to give a picture of the complex and confusing emotional states parents may go through when dealing with physical and psychological health-threatening situations and present guidelines for integrated counseling models. Childhood chronic illnesses (CI) may be a source of difficulty to manage emotions and may create a series of practical problems for both the parents and the child. They can also cause a number of specifics limitations that have varying degrees of impact on the child and subsequently the whole family's psychosocial functioning (Dempsey, 2008). Specific medical symptoms and secondary physical or psychosocial problems arise from different conditions, varying in intensity and the need for treatment (Kourkoutas, Georgiadi, & Plexousakis, 2010). Differences in the way the child and its family experience the CI depend on the age the symptoms manifest, the developmental period of the child, the type and extent of medical support needed, the degree of health and life-threatening risk, how noticeable the impairment/disability is, the parents' personality or psychic organization, the family structure and couple's life, and

This paper presents a case study of 213 university students of Clinical Psychology that explores affective symbolizations, which structure their relationship with hosting bodies in internship experience. This is in order to detect students’ main representations about their role as interns, professional activities and functions they have to comply with and the perceived integration between university education and real work contexts. A questionnaire was administered for the analysis of students’ motivational dynamics and expectations activated by imagining their future internship. Four clusters of students have been identified, through multivariate statistical techniques, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Results were as follows: a general powerlessness, distrust and disinvestment toward internship (17.7%); affiliation with hosting bodies in order to gain increasing acceptance and power (33.8%); high pragmatism, task-orientation and compliance with wha...

This papers aims at exploring regular teachers' cultural models of school inclusion, in terms of shared representations regarding inclusive education and relationships with children with disabilities and special educators within inclusive settings. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 80 Macedonian regular teachers recruited from three schools placed in Skopje. Multivariate statistical techniques were performed in order to detect both some groupings of participants sharing the same response patterns (cluster analysis) and the main factors (multiple correspondence analysis) accounting for the overall variability. Some supplementary variables (age, gender, years of tenure and reference school) were also used to test their association with clusters. Results show four different groupings of regular teachers who respectively express: a vision of inclusion limited to peer social relationships and avoidant attitude towards students with disability (23.7%), a low perceived usefulness of inclusion and substantial disengagement towards it (38.2%), a more realistic conception of inclusion and demand for support provided by special educators (11.8%), a self-referential tendency in managing inclusion without detecting any resource in students with disabilities or within the school context (26.3%). No supplementary variable was significantly associated with detected clusters. Three latent factors were identified which explain the overall variability and deal with regular teachers' view about: school inclusion, children with disabilities and impact of inclusion on the teaching quality. A multidimensional context-oriented approach in studying representations of school inclusion is substained in order to overcome fixed and universal attitudinal constructs unable to account for cultural variability.

Teacher burnout is conceived as a general concern in special education because of the emotionally demanding work context. This study explored the potential role of perceived support for reduction of burnout in a sample of 276 special education teachers working in lower (n=130) and higher (n=146) secondary schools. Participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and a scale on the perceived collaboration and support from general education teachers. To explore the association between perceived support and each burnout measure considered (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal accomplishment), correlation analyses were performed. Then, in order to check the robustness of our empirical findings, multilevel regression models (at teacher-school-administrative area level) were used controlling for several variables (teacher socio-demographic characteristics, teacher training and professional background, inclusive teaching practice and school ...

The problem of infertility and its consequent treatment (denoted as Assisted Reproductive Technology or ART) represent an increasing phenomenon, especially in industrialized countries. Confronting with one’s own procreative limitations can generate strong negative emotional reactions. This study aims at understanding how the desire for motherhood manifests itself in infertile women undergoing ART, studying their emotional and subjective perspective. An in-depth explorative research study was conducted on 17 infertile women attending an Italian hospital clinic for fertility treatment. Emotional text analysis was conducted to analyze the corpus of their interviews, allowing the identification of four thematic domains (clusters) which refer, respectively, to the following emotional dimensions: an inclination to self-sacrifice, seen as the price to be paid for the desired success of the treatment (Cluster 1), pursuit of inclusion in the world of procreative mothers (Cluster 2), precario...

The usefulness of providing career interventions in the transition from university to labour market is more and more advocated, in order to increase young people's competencies about career management and entrepreneurial skills. The present paper aims at focusing on the effectiveness of career interventions for university or graduate students and on its relationship with some study design and intervention characteristics. A meta-analysis was conducted on studies published between 2000 and 2015 which complied with the following inclusion criteria: university or graduate students as target population, the evaluation of specific career-related interventions or programs, and an experimental or quasiexperimental design. The selection procedure resulted in 9 eligible studies-overall assessing 12 interventions-out of 823 examined articles. The results indicated, on average, a large effect (weighted ES = .80; 95% CI = .54, 1.06) better outcomes from socio-constructivist interventions compared to those based on social cognition theory and person-environment fit model, and higher impact on the reduction of career indecision than on the increase of decision-making self-efficacy. Some recommendations for researchers and policy makers are

This work illustrates the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Questionnaire for Professional Training Evaluation, designed and validated by Grohmann and Kauffeld. This 12-item questionnaire provides for the evaluation of different training outcomes, is time-efficient, applicable to several professional contexts and shows sound psychometric properties. In order to test the Italian form, we carried out two studies. In Study 1 (N 5 125), an exploratory factor analysis led to a two-factor solution accounting for short-and longterm training outcomes. In Study 2 (N 5 122), a five-model comparison was performed. Although at first a two-factor solution seemed to emerge, confirmatory factor analysis found the best fit in a six, inter-correlated, first-order factors model (satisfaction, utility, knowledge, application to practice, individual organizational results and global organizational results). Relationships with learning transfer, transfer quantity, type of training, training methodologies and individual variables-gender, age and tenure-are explored. Limitations and research and practical implications are discussed.

The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a new instrument, the Dynamic Career Scale (DCS), which measures four different modes of functioning in facing career failures and challenges (mania, envy, manic reparation, and true reparation) according to Klein's object relations theory. Two studies were respectively conducted on adult working participants (N = 260, Study 1) and newly-qualified psychologists enrolled in a career research program (N = 196, Study 2), to assess reliability, factorial validity and convergent evidence of validity. Overall, findings suggest adequate psychometric properties of the DCS and its potential usefulness to grasp unconscious processes affecting career adjustment. Keywords Validation • Career adjustment • Object relations theory Résumé Développement et validation de Échelle Dynamique de Carrière (DCS): Une conceptualisation psychodynamique de l'ajustement de carrière. L'objectif de ce projet était de développer et de valider un nouvel instrument, le Dynamic Career Scale (DCS), permettant de mesurer quatre modes de fonctionnement différents face aux échecs et défis de carrière (manie, envie, réparation maniaque et réparation véritable), selon la théorie de relations d'objet de Klein. Deux études évaluent la fiabilité, la validité factorielle et la validité convergente de l'échelle. L'étude 1 comprenait des participant.e.s adultes (N = 260) et l'étude 2 des psychologues nouvellement qualifié.e.s inscrit.e.s à un programme de recherche sur les carrières (N = 196).

Given the negative role of problematic use of new technological devices (NTD) in behavioral and psychological domains, the aim of the study is the Italian adaptation and validation of the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A) in order to understand the motivation for the use of NTD. A total of 769 students 10?19 aged (M = 13.22, SD = 1.56) completed the IMQ-A, the Collins Figures Rating Scale, and two measures regarding the problematic NTD use, focused on overuse during the night and during meals. The IMQ-A showed adequate internal consistency with regard to its four subscales: Coping (? = .84), Social (? = .80), Enhancement (? = .80), and Conformity (? = .68) motives. However, with regard to factorial structure, a threefactor model (excluding Conformity subscale) showed slightly better fit indices than the original model. Coping motive was correlated with problematic NTD use and succeeded in predicting higher scores in body dissatisfaction as evidence of criterion-r...

za razvojnu i kliničku psihologiju, Italija disfunkcije kod mladih osoba sa poremećajem iz spektra autizma well as on the need to harmonize the characteristics of the environment in which they reside, the tasks delegated to them, and their sensory specificities.

This contribution aims to discuss how and to what extent emotionality affects opinions, beliefs, attitudes, therefore, the social behaviour of entire communities. The construct of the unconscious is presented in a modern perspective, beyond the individual vicissitudes of personal conflicts, unresolved experiences, and psychopathology. Based on Matte Blanco's bi-logic theory of mind (1975), emotions, as a process of attribution of meaning to objects, persons and events, grounded on primary categories (such as, good and evil, big and small, inside and outside), may be shared by groups of individuals as well as entire communities in the form of "local cultures" (Carli & Paniccia, 2003), regulating their social behaviour towards given social stimuli. Dynamic clinical psychology offers a theoretical framework, instruments and methodologies, such as the Emotional Text Analysis based on the lexical analysis of language, and ability to uncover this portion of shared emotionality in social contexts so that it can be made explicit, elaborated and transformed in unbiased and aware rational thoughts. Two case studies are briefly presented showing how dynamic clinical psychology can offer an "across the board" knowledge that can be fruitfully integrated in different fields, helping other professional profiles in designing and realizing practical solutions to improve communities' quality of life, including their capacity to manage complex sets of information, thus preventing an abundance of stereotypes, simple thoughts, and primary emotions. I will conclude with a call on university teachers on their responsibility in supporting open mindedness in young generations and their ability to explore different contexts.