Papers by viviana langher
Brown Walker Press, 2012
Si tratta di un volume che raccoglie studiosi ed esperti a livello internazionale. Il tema centra... more Si tratta di un volume che raccoglie studiosi ed esperti a livello internazionale. Il tema centrale riguarda le relazioni parentali in situazioni molto complesse, come quando, ad esempio, ci sono dei figli con autismo. Il volume mette a confronto lo stato dell'arte sul tema suindicato e pone a confronto esperienze dal Portogallo, dagli Stati Uniti, dal Kuwait, dall'Inghilterra, dal Belgio, da Paesi del SudAmerica, da Paesi della ex Jugoslavia, dalla Bulgaria, dall'Australia ecc. L'allegato pu\uf2 essere letto con questa PW 86fhwe42
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 2021
Recent psychodynamic research hypothesises a connection between diabetes adaptation and the feeli... more Recent psychodynamic research hypothesises a connection between diabetes adaptation and the feeling of loss and damage enacted by such a chronic disease. This study aims at exploring the associations between damaged ego-related strategies in persons with diabetes and: 1) age, gender, type and duration of diabetes, and related treatment, 2) depressive symptoms, 3) indicators of adherence and quality of care. A convenience sample of 109 persons (56% female; n = 61 with type 2 diabetes) with a mean age of 56.12 years (SD = 15.30) was enrolled. Participants completed measures of damaged ego-related strategies (empathic identification, mania, frustration, destructiveness) (PET), depression (BDI-II), self-care (SDSCA), medication adherence (Morisky Scale) and quality of care (Score-Q index). Linear multiple stepwise regressions and Pearson’s correlations were performed. Age was negatively associated with empathic identification (β = .317, p < .01) and positively with destructiveness (β = .323, p < .01). Depressive symptoms negatively correlated with empathic identification (r = −.34, p < .01). Moreover, medication adherence was associated with higher empathic identification (r = .22, p < .05) and lower mania (r = −.30, p < .01), while quality of care was negatively associated with destructiveness (r = −.25, p < .05). Overall, a successful loss processing seems promising in lowering depression and non-adherence in persons with diabetes. Specifically, the need for psychological support for older persons is advocated.
Psihologija, 2019
Given the negative role of problematic use of new technological devices (NTD) in behavioral and p... more 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 (α = .84), Social (α = .80), Enhancement (α = .80), and Conformity (α = .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-related and external validity. The Italian adaptation of the IMQ-A can be useful in both research and clinical fields, in order to propose alternative strategies for coping to users and to improve emotion regulation facets.
International journal for educational and vocational guidance, Jul 25, 2019
The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a new instrument, the Dynamic Career Sca... more 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).
Europe’s Journal of Psychology, Jun 7, 2019
The problem of infertility and its consequent treatment (denoted as Assisted Reproductive Technol... more 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 selfsacrifice, 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), precarious equilibrium between the deep desire for a baby and the withdrawal from the treatment (Cluster 3), surrender to any possible consequence in order to obtain the desired mother-child relationship (Cluster 4). The witness of the couples' suffering for their condition of infertility and their strong desire for parenting can represent a source of high pressure for the fertility care staff, as they are the only ones responsible for the fulfillment of the great dream of biological parenthood. For these reasons, a multidisciplinary approach, which involves psychological as well as medical experts all working together, could benefit both the patients and the healthcare professionals and improve the quality of the reproductive healthcare services.
Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Dec 12, 2019
Backgrounds: Psychological factors may affect patients' ability to cope with chronic illness, whi... more Backgrounds: Psychological factors may affect patients' ability to cope with chronic illness, which occur with a high incidence as they represent age related disorder. Anxiety, depression and alexithymia could specifically interfere with compliance and adherence leading to predictable consequences and predicting morbidity and mortality independently of several confounders. The present work aims at investigating the relationship between alexithymia and affective dimension such as anxiety and depression levels, and health related quality of life in T2DM patients. Particularly, alexithymia was analyzed in its three main facets and time since diagnosis was considered with also metabolic control. Methods: Forty seven patients with T2DM were consecutively enrolled and assessed with a gold standard interview and with a psycho-diagnostic evaluation. Clinical psychological exploration consisted of HAM-A, BECK-II, SF-36 and TAS-20 administration. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistical version 25. Data were analyzed anonymously. Results: 47 participants showed moderate depressive symptoms as confirmed by the mean BDI-II and HAMA-A score (15.14 ± 8.95 and 24.31 ± 6.95, respectively), suggesting a high prevalence of anxiety in the enrolled subjects. It was observed a lower perceived QoL as resulted by the MCS and PCS mean values (37.68 ± 9.41 and 39.31 ± 12.29, respectively) and TAS-20 highlighted considerable mean values of 60.53 ± 7.93 in the recruited participants with a prevalence in EOT values (27.51± 4.27), in comparison with mean DID and DDF values (17.26 ± 5.52 and 15.48 ± 3.84, respectively). Conclusions: Our study may suggest a predictive role of alexithymia in patients with T2DM. Moreover, lower PCS and MCS, revealing worst perceived QoL were associated to both higher anxiety and disease duration.
Verlag Barbara Budrich eBooks, Sep 14, 2020
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Introduction: The dipping phenomenon is a physiological drop in blood pressure (around 10–20%) du... more Introduction: The dipping phenomenon is a physiological drop in blood pressure (around 10–20%) during sleep and represents an event related to the circadian blood pressure trend. This phenomenon, in some cases, is characterized by some alterations that can be expressed by an increase (extreme dipping), a decrease (non-dipping), or a reverse (i.e., higher blood pressure during sleep compared to awake state; reverse-dipping) physiological decline of blood pressure. Few studies focused on the association between the circadian variation of blood pressure and psychological variables, although this information could help understanding how psychological characteristics (e.g., emotional regulation or dysregulation) interact with individuals’ physiological processes. Given the association between emotional dysregulation and essential hypertension, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and dipping status in a sample of healthy and hypertensive adults in the abse...
Sustainability
This study was carried out as a part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura” for t... more This study was carried out as a part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura” for the improvement of water resource management in rural communities of Central America. Given the problem of water shortage, especially in El Salvador, the aim was to detect some key factors affecting water conservation and environmental sustainability from a community clinical psychological perspective. Ninety rural inhabitants (mean age = 46.84, SD = 17.05) of El Salvador were given a structured interview exploring their symbolizations about water conservation. Data were analyzed through computer-assisted thematic analysis, then complemented by a qualitative analysis. Several themes were identified highlighting some differences regarding the emotional salience given to water resources as a primary good, the sense of responsibility for the sustainability of water resources at the community level, as well as diverse motivations and purposes affecting water use in households. The findings su...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
This study was carried out as part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura” for the... more This study was carried out as part of the international cooperation project “Agua Futura” for the improvement of water resource management and the promotion of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) behaviors in rural communities of Central America. Given the relevant healthcare problem of water pollution, especially in El Salvador, the aim was to detect some key factors affecting the perception of water contamination and its risky consumption from a community clinical psychological perspective. Ninety rural inhabitants of El Salvador were administered a structured interview exploring their perceptions about water quality and the impact of water consumption on health. Data were analyzed through a computer-aided thematic analysis—complemented by a qualitative analysis—allowing the detection of sense-making processes based on lexical variability. Different themes were identified with regard to the perception of water quality (i.e., mistrust, danger, and safety) and the beliefs about th...
Partecipatory model, inclusive policies, Disabilitie
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020
Introduction: The circadian pattern of blood pressure is characterized by a physiological drop oc... more Introduction: The circadian pattern of blood pressure is characterized by a physiological drop occurring after sleep onset. The alteration of this phenomenon (non-dipping, extreme dipping, or reverse dipping) is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk. Besides altered autonomic and endocrine circadian rhythms, psychological aspects seem to play a role in this modification. However, the few studies that have analyzed the influence of psychological dimensions on the dipping phenomenon have reported inconsistent results. This study aimed to examine the relationship between anger expression and blood pressure (BP) dipping. Methods: We obtained 24 h ambulatory BP measurements from 151 participants and used them to define three groups according to their dipping status: Dippers (N = 65), Non-Dippers (N = 42), and Extreme Dippers (N = 44). Sociodemographic and anamnestic information was collected, and the State–Trait Anger Expression Inventory was used to assess anger. Results: Ana...
Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2018
The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of emotional variables in diabetes adapta... more The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of emotional variables in diabetes adaptation. This is in order to develop and test a conceptual model simultaneously involving emotional variables consistent with a conceptual framework looking at chronic illness as a loss of good self. A convenience sample of 59 participants with a diagnosis of type 1 (n= 26) and type 2 (n=33) diabetes mellitus (Mean age= 57.17, SD=16.82) completed measures of diabetes distress, psychological adjustment to diabetes, diabetes self-care (as outcomes of diabetes adaptation) and depression, alexithymia and damaged ego-related strategies (as emotional variables). Correlation analyses among the examined measures were performed; as well, regression analyses were used to test the role of such emotional variables (as potential predictors) in accounting for diabetes adaptation outcomes. The results overall suggest that lower depression and higher mania contribute to diabetes adaption to a statistically...
Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2017
This article aims to investigate the association between emotion dysregulation and alcohol relate... more This article aims to investigate the association between emotion dysregulation and alcohol related intimate partner violence. A systematic review was conducted through a literature research for relevant studies on Medline, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Psycoinfo and PsycArticle from inception through April 11, 2015. Additional articles were retrieved manually searching in reference lists. All relevant articles were accessed in full text. Data on study type; cases; controls; country; effect estimate; adjustments for confounders and quality of publication were extracted. The quality of the publications were scored by adherence to the STROBE and CONSORT 2010 checklists. Four studies satisfied the predefined criteria for inclusion and were included in this review. Results highlighted support for future research on emotion dysregulation and alcohol related intimate partner violence.
Ecopsychology, 2020
Worldwide, contaminated water sources constitute the main risk factor for several diseases and re... more Worldwide, contaminated water sources constitute the main risk factor for several diseases and represent 2.2% of global deaths. El Salvador is a country with lower water availability per habitant a...
Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2021
The onset of Takotsubo syndrome (TTS), also known as stress cardiomyopathy, is thought to be asso... more The onset of Takotsubo syndrome (TTS), also known as stress cardiomyopathy, is thought to be associated with some life events. This study focuses on clarifying life event characteristics and the role of triggers in the onset of TTS. Participants with TTS (n = 54) were compared to those with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; n = 52) and healthy individuals (n = 54). Using a modified version of the Interview for Recent Life Events, information about general life events perceived as stressful and triggers preceding the onset of a cardiac syndrome was collected. The assessment included the impact of these events as indicated by the participants and estimated by the interviewer; finally, the objective impact was considered. Although the number of events and the objective impact did not differ among the groups, patients with TTS reported a more negative perceived impact. Moreover, 61% of these patients objectively and subjectively reported a more stressful trigger before the onset of the ...
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Papers by viviana langher