Dissatisfaction in Child Welfare and Its Role in Predicting Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction at Work: A Mixed-Method Research

Child welfare organizations are increasingly concerned with challenges emerging from the assessment of social workers\u2019 dissatisfaction. This type of service represents the work area where social workers are at greater risk of burnout. Although several studies account for high social workers\u2019 burnout scores, they do not systematically dwell upon its sources and roots. In addition, scholars point out that a considerable number of work related issues may be perceived both as a source of dissatisfaction and satisfaction. We assume that there is a need to deepen the understanding of how dissatisfaction\u2019s sources may exert an impact on both personal job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy, which are positively associated with well-being at work. The present mixed-method research has two aims: (1) the extensive exploration, applying qualitative methodology, of the perceived sources of dissatisfaction; (2) the attempt to identify the extent to which those sources predict job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy. It is our purpose to further explore which differences emerge by age. The research involved child welfare workers, that is, SWs employed in public child welfare agencies in the North East of Italy. Results show the predominant role of interpersonal trust and mutual respect, as main predictors of both professional self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Practical implications of findings are discussed

Violence at School and the Well-Being of Teachers. The Importance of Positive Relationships

In the discipline of positive psychology, \u201cwell-being\u201d is considered a fundamental aspect of \u201chuman flourishing.\u201d Inherent to this multidimensional model are emotional, psychological, and social forms of well-being, which can be grounded in positive relationships in the work environment. By adopting an interpretive framework that emphasizes these dynamics, researchers are able to focus on elements that actively help sustain the process of flourishing, rather than on negative environmental features that should be avoided if possible. Within this broader discussion, the specific question of teachers\u2019 well-being is one that has global relevance and merits greater academic attention. After all, it has significant consequences for the educational environment and students\u2019 ability to learn. The literature suggests that teachers are increasingly exposed to violence on the part of students and/or their parents. Inappropriate and/or aggressive behavior like this can reduce a teacher\u2019s occupational well-being and make it more difficult to build positive relationships in the classroom. Ultimately, it is one of the most serious work-related stress factors affecting the profession today. Previous studies have attempted to characterize the contexts in which violence occurs, and its negative impact on both the individuals involved and the broader educational climate. Less attention has been devoted to the capacity of teachers to deal with violence and develop a more resilient mindset. The positive psychology perspective focuses on well-being as a multidimensional construct wherein psychosocial and physical comfort does not simply arise provided there is an absence of suffering and violence. Rather, according to this model, such experiences can be counteracted by a capacity to endure and build positive environments. With these considerations in mind, our study presents data gathered in primary and secondary schools in northern Italy. A total 475 teachers completed an online, self-report questionnaire. The results indicate that teachers can experience occupational well-being even if they are subjected to aggressive behaviors. Supportive leadership and good relationships with colleagues may be considered valuable resources for fostering well-being among teachers

Inter-services communication in child welfare: The interplay of age, work-group identification, trust and self efficacy

The present study involves 157 social workers employed in two public child welfare agencies of North-East Italy. Recent approaches (Pedrazza, Berlanda, 2017; Pedrazza, Sartori, Berlanda, 2017) show that social work in child welfare agencies requires communication skills and social competence, such as work-group identification and trust. These studies show that perceived self-efficacy represents an important element of inter-service communication. The aim of our study is to attempt to identify the role of age, work-group identification and trust in predicting social workers' self-efficacy in emotion regulation, procedural self-efficacy, self-efficacy in seeking support, and self-efficacy in professional communication. Assuming the causal relationship between variables, we propose multiple linear regression analysis in order to identify antecedents of self-efficacy

Dissatisfaction in Child Welfare and Its Role in Predicting Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction at Work: A Mixed-Method Research

Child welfare organizations are increasingly concerned with challenges emerging from the assessment of social workers’ dissatisfaction. This type of service represents the work area where social workers are at greater risk of burnout. Although several studies account for high social workers’ burnout scores, they do not systematically dwell upon its sources and roots. In addition, scholars point out that a considerable number of work related issues may be perceived both as a source of dissatisfaction and satisfaction. We assume that there is a need to deepen the understanding of how dissatisfaction’s sources may exert an impact on both personal job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy, which are positively associated with well-being at work. The present mixed-method research has two aims: (1) the extensive exploration, applying qualitative methodology, of the perceived sources of dissatisfaction; (2) the attempt to identify the extent to which those sources predict job satisfaction and professional self-efficacy. It is our purpose to further explore which differences emerge by age. The research involved child welfare workers, that is, SWs employed in public child welfare agencies in the North East of Italy. Results show the predominant role of interpersonal trust and mutual respect, as main predictors of both professional self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Practical implications of findings are discussed

Exploring Physicians\u2019 Dissatisfaction and Work-Related Stress: Development of the PhyDis Scale

Research, all over the world, is starting to recognize the potential impact of physicians' dissatisfaction and burnout on their productivity, that is, on their intent to leave the job, on their work ability, on the amount of sick leave days, on their intent to continue practicing, and last but not least, on the quality of the services provided, which is an essential part of the general medical care system. It was interest of the provincial medical board's ethical committee to acquire information about physician's work-related stress and dissatisfaction. The research group was committed to define the indicators of dissatisfaction and work-related stressors. Focus groups were carried out, 21 stressful experience's indicators were identified; we developed an online questionnaire to assess the amount of perceived stress relating to each indicator at work (3070 physicians were contacted by e-mail); quantitative and qualitative data analysis were carried out. The grounded theory perspective was applied in order to assure the most reliable procedure to investigate the concepts' structure of "work-related stress." We tested the five dimensions' model of the stressful experience with a confirmatory factor analysis: Personal Costs; Decline in Public Image and Role Uncertainty; Physician's Responsibility toward hopelessly ill Patients; Relationship with Staff and Colleagues; Bureaucracy. We split the sample according to attachment style (secure and insecure -anxious and avoidant-). Results show the complex representation of physicians' dissatisfaction at work also with references to the variable of individual difference of attachment security/insecurity. The discriminant validity of the scale was tested. The original contribution of this paper lies on the one hand in the qualitative in depth inductive analysis of physicians' dissatisfaction starting from physicians' perception, on the other hand, it represents the first attempt to analyze the physicians' dissatisfaction with reference to attachment styles, which is recognized as being a central variable of individual difference supporting caregiving practices. This study represents an original and innovative attempt to address physicians' dissatisfaction and job satisfaction. The PhyDis scale has been developed and, in line with international findings, our results indicate that role uncertainty and loss of social esteem are the most dissatisfying factors. \ua9 2016 Pedrazza, Berlanda, Trifiletti and Bressan

Addressing Risks of Violence against Healthcare Staff in Emergency Departments: The Effects of Job Satisfaction and Attachment Style

Violence in the workplace is one of the most serious issues affecting the healthcare sector. The incidence of violent behaviour towards healthcare workers is increasing worldwide. It is difficult to assess the extent of the problem, however, as violent incidents are underreported. In fact, many doctors and nurses see violence\u2014perpetrated primarily by patients and visitors (friends and relatives of patients)\u2014as a part of their job. Several studies indicate that violent behaviour against healthcare workers has serious consequences for the professionals involved, as well as for the wider healthcare system. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of patient and visitor violence in a number of emergency departments in northeastern Italy and to explore the relationship between violence and certain psychosocial factors (adult attachment style, age, and job satisfaction). Data were collected using an online questionnaire. Our results demonstrate that patient and visitor violence in emergency departments is a serious risk for nurses and doctors and that it is affected by several factors relating to both patient pathologies and the way the workplace and work patterns are organised. Previous studies indicate that the most common formof violence experienced in these contexts is emotional violence and that nurses are more likely than doctors to suffer emotional and physical violence. Based on multiple regression analysis of the data, it appears that greater age and higher scores in secure attachment are associated with reduced experience of emotional violence from patients and visitors. Furthermore, our results show that the relationship between secure attachment and the amount of patient-and-visitor-perpetrated emotional violence experienced is mediated by levels of job satisfaction.We also discuss the potential implications of these results in terms of using staff training to prevent andmanage patient and visitor violence and improve the safety of healthcare professionals

Proteomics Characterization of Outer Membrane Vesicles from the Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli ΔtolR IHE3034 Mutant

Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli are the cause of a diverse spectrum of invasive infections in humans and animals, leading to urinary tract infections, meningitis, or septicemia. In this study, we focused our attention on the identification of the outer membrane proteins of the pathogen in consideration of their important biological role and of their use as potential targets for prophylactic and therapeutic interventions. To this aim, we generated a DeltatolR mutant of the pathogenic IHE3034 strain that spontaneously released a large quantity of outer membrane vesicles in the culture supernatant. The vesicles were analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry. The analysis led to the identification of 100 proteins, most of which are localized to the outer membrane and periplasmic compartments. Interestingly based on the genome sequences available in the current public database, seven of the identified proteins appear to be specific for pathogenic E. coli and enteric bacteria and therefore are potential targets for vaccine and drug development. Finally we demonstrated that the cytolethal distending toxin, a toxin exclusively produced by pathogenic bacteria, is released in association with the vesicles, supporting the recently proposed role of bacterial vesicles in toxin delivery to host cells. Overall, our data demonstrated that outer membrane vesicles represent an ideal tool to study Gram-negative periplasm and outer membrane compartments and to shed light on new mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis

L'educatore extrascolastico: identit\ue0 e ruolo professionale

Le profonde trasformazioni della societ\ue0 contemporanea coinvolgono tutte le professioni, dalle pi\uf9 tradizionali a quelle pi\uf9 innovative e recenti. In questo complesso panorama di ridefinizione le professioni sociali occupano un posto privilegiato, visto che stanno attraversando un periodo particolare della loro storia. E tra queste, la professione dell\u2019educatore extrascolastico, si caratterizza come protagonista indiscussa, dato che in questa fase si aprono nuovi spazi di riflessione e revisione, di ripensamento, riqualificazione e ricollocazione nel mondo del lavoro e nella societ\ue0. I processi in atto oltre a ridefinire ruoli e funzioni, delineano un nuovo quadro, nel quale l\u2019utente, non pi\uf9 oggetto dell\u2019intervento ma risorsa, \ue8 libero di scegliere da chi farsi assistere aumentando il proprio potere contrattuale e riducendo l\u2019asimmetria con il servizio ed i suoi professionisti; in tal modo, si assiste al passaggio dal progetto del servizio al percorso accompagnato ed individualizzato. Le evoluzioni del sistema dei servizi, le trasformazioni e l\u2019emergere di nuovi bisogni sociali cui rispondere, costituiscono nuovi stimoli per ripensare la professione dell\u2019educatore extrascolastico, sottoponendola ad un\u2019opera di manutenzione, rafforzamento ed ampliamento. La presente tesi nasce dalla volont\ue0 di inserirsi in un quadro di riflessione, di conoscenza e di precisazione della professione dell\u2019educatore extrascolastico, di cui forse ancora oggi si conosce troppo poco. Infatti, non \ue8 chiaro a tutti quali siano i suoi compiti, inoltre risulta ancora una professione in Italia in via di riconoscimento ufficiale, dato che non esiste un albo o delle norme che ne regolamentino l\u2019accesso o i diritti, infine non esiste chiarezza circa i percorsi formativi. Per questo vi \ue8 l\u2019esigenza di comprendere quanto, come e in quale direzione si sia ampliato lo spettro delle competenze e delle pratiche dell\u2019educatore extrascolastico. L\u2019obiettivo \ue8 quello di produrre un\u2019istantanea della figura professionale, analizzando l\u2019attuale scenario e verificando quanto questa figura sia cambiata e verso quali possibili orizzonti giunger\ue0 in futuro. La ricerca svolta in tre anni si pone un duplice obiettivo: ripercorrere la storia e la legislazione riferita al ruolo dell\u2019educatore extrascolastico ed ai servizi alla persona; e presentare la percezione rispetto al ruolo ed alle pratiche professionali di educatori che operano con utenza diversificata nel territorio della Provincia Autonoma di Trento.The transformations in contemporary society involving all professions, from the traditional to the most innovative and recent. social professions, in particular the profession of extra-school educator is the main protagonist of this ridefintion process. Because in this phase will open new spaces to think, to review and to retrain this profession in the workplace and in the society. These processes moreover outlining a new framework in which users are no longer the subject of the intervention, but they are free to choose those to be assisted by increasing their power and reducing the asymmetry with service and its professionals, so we see the transition to an individualized service. The evolution of the services system, the changes and the emergence of new social needs are pressure to rethink the profession of extra-school educator. This paper aims at providing some tentative answers and clarifications about the profession of the extra-school educator. It isn't clear its tasks. In Italy this is a profession in the process of official recognition, since there isn't register or rules that regulate the access or rights. Finally there isn't clarity about the training. For these reasons there is a need to understand what, how and in what direction it has expanded the range of skills and practices of the extra-school educator. The aim is to give a summary of the profession, analyzing the current scene and noting how this figure has changed and where possible will come in the future. This three years research has a double target: to retrace the history and legislation about the profession of the extra-school educator and the social services; and submit the perception about the role and the practices of this profession, that works with different users in Trento

L'educatore extrascolastico

Il capitolo nasce dalla volont\ue0 di inserirsi in un quadro di riflessione, di conoscenza e di precisazione della professione dell\u2019educatore extrascolastico, infatti non \ue8 chiaro a tutti quali siano i suoi compiti, inoltre risulta ancora una professione in Italia in via di riconoscimento ufficiale, dato che non esiste un albo o delle norme che ne regolamentino l\u2019accesso o i diritti, infine non esiste chiarezza circa i percorsi formativi

Practice-Based \u2018Inside-Out\u2019 Innovation in Public Service: A Regional Child Welfare Agency

The aim of this chapter is to describe an inside-out, practice-based innovation process in the public sector. The innovation is concerned with the improvement of the quality of the internal vs. external and cross-disciplinary information/data transfer on foster youth in a regional child welfare agency in Italy. The process is an open one; it occurs at the third sector level of the public service agency. Different professional groupings are involved in the interinstitutional decision-making process on children; thus, local and role-specific knowledge is needed to resolve problems that arise at a more complex interinstitutional level, such as the joint evaluation of children\u2019s behaviours. The practitioners\u2019 need to reduce intra-team conflict rates turned out to be the activating influential factor of this innovation. The employee-driven innovation process developed through three steps: (1) in-service training led by psychologist, (2) staff assessment, and (3) development of a new tool for the systematic observation by residential youth workers of children\u2019s behaviour. They can be referred to as \u2018educators\u2019, \u2018front-line community educators\u2019, \u2018practitioners\u2019 or youth workers. The new tool adopted reduced interpersonal and team conflicts at intra-service level, according equal dignity to both beginners and to experienced workers when reporting on children\u2019s behaviour. Unintended and positive outcome of the development of the new tool emerged at the adoption/diffusion stage: the large number of observations of each child, available in real time, allowed youth workers to be effective both in intra-service and interservice information transfer. Comparative studies should be carried out in order to identify commonalities between social, health and educational services\u2019 innovation influential factors and outcomes. According to De Vries et al. (2014), innovation\u2019s outcomes are seldom analysed; we\u2019ve contributed to fill this research gap