Which Social Inclusion for People with Psychiatric Disorders? Insights from the Web

This paper describes a part of a need analysis carried out in the frame of a project financed from the ESF and aimed at training and work insertion of people with psychiatric disorders. In particular, the authors aim to understand if a deep study done through the Web can be useful in order to define the needs and expectations of people with psychiatric disorders and their relatives. As regards the methodological aspects, we have used the most common techniques for the analysis of big data: network analysis and web crawler. The results of the web study show not relevant differences with that derived from the traditional research. Evidence suggests that e-methods are useful for background analysi

Frailty is associated with socioeconomic and lifestyle factors in community-dwelling older subjects

Background and Aims: This study assessed the association between frailty and sociodemographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors in community-dwelling older people. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey in a population-based sample of 542 community-dwelling aged 65 years and older subjects living in a metropolitan area in Italy. Frailty was evaluated by means of the FRAIL scale proposed by the International Association of Nutrition and Aging. Basal and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL, IADL), physical activity, sociodemographic (age, gender, marital status and co-habitation), socioeconomic (education, economic conditions and occupational status) and lifestyle domains (cultural and technological fruition and social activation) were assessed through specific validated tools. Statistical analysis was performed through multinomial logistic regression. Results: Impairments in ADL and IADL were significantly associated with frailty while moderate and high physical activity were inversely associated with frailty. Moreover, regarding both socioeconomic variables and lifestyle factors, more disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions and low levels of cultural fruition were significantly associated with frailty. Conclusions: Socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, particularly cultural fruition, are associated with frailty independently from functional impairment and low physical activity. Cultural habits may therefore represent a new target of multimodal interventions against geriatric frailty