The association between adherence to cancer screening programs and health literacy. A systematic review and meta-analysis

The effectiveness of a cancer screening program relies on its adherence rate. Health literacy (HL) has been investigated among the factors that could influence such participation, but the findings are not always consistent. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence between having an adequate level of HL (AHL) and adherence to cancer screening programs. PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched. Cross-sectional studies, conducted in any country, that provided raw data, unadjusted or adjusted odds ratio (OR) on the associations of interest were included. The quality of the studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Inverse-variance random effects methods were used to produce pooled ORs and their associated confidence interval (CI) stratified by time interval (e.g., undergoing screening in the last period, or at least once during lifetime) for each cancer type, considering unadjusted and adjusted estimates separately. A sensitivity analysis was performed for those studies providing more estimates. Overall, 15 articles of average-to-good quality were pooled. We found a significant association between AHL and higher screening participation for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, independently of other factors, both overall (N = 7, aOR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.27–2.36; N = 3, aOR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.30–2.09; and N = 5, aOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.12–1.39, respectively) and in most time-stratified analyses. The sensitivity analyses confirmed these results. Health literacy seems to be critical for an effective cancer prevention. Given the high prevalence of illiterate people across the world, a long-term action plan is needed

MINISTERO PER I BENI E LE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI ISTITUTO CENTRALE PER IL CATALOGO E LA DOCUMENTAZIONE La documentazione fotografica delle schede di catalogo Metodologie tecniche di ripresa

L'arch. Nicola Santopuoli viene coinvolto dall'ICCD in qualità di esperto e per conto della Scuola del restauro del Mosaico di Ravenna per la definizione delle metodologie per la documentazione fotografica delle schede di catalogo. Nel manuale operativo sono illustrate a partire dalle norme ICCD le metodologie operative per la documentazione fotografica del patrimonio architettonico e archeologico. Per le singoli sezioni si riportano i curatori: Beni storico-artistici a cura di Roberto Galasso e Elisabetta Giffi; Beni archeologici a cura di Cinzia Morelli, ICCD e Stefania Panella, ICCD, Maurizio Pellegrini, SBA per l’Etruria Meridionale; -Beni ambientali e architettonici a cura di Anna Paola Briganti ICCD; Floriana Sattalini ICCD; Nicola Santopuoli, Scuola di Restauro del Mosaico di Ravenna. L'arch. Nicola Santopuoli ha utilizzato e ampliato il manuale ed è stato utilizzato per i Corsi di formazione in Tunisia, Yemen (Memar Sit di Reggio Emilia e il Centro Regionale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione dell’IBC della Regione Emilia Romagna, Bologna). Il manuale è stato aggiornato e tradotto in arabo per corsi di formazione in Siria. (Damasco 2002)

Job satisfaction among employees after a merger. A cross-sectional survey in the local health unit of Sardinia Region, Italy

Job satisfaction plays an important role in healthcare organization and management; it is critical for maintaining and improving staff efficiency and consequently the quality of care provided. Organizational restructuring processes, including mergers, are likely to affect job satisfaction levels, but evidence of the impact they have is surprisingly scarce. The aim of the study was to describe a methodology used to measure job satisfaction of the employees at a Local Health Unit (LHU) in Italy immediately after a merger and to assess the determinants associated with any reduction in worker satisfaction. The study was conducted among employees of the LHU of the Sardinia Region in July 2018, after a merger of eight subregional LHUs had taken place. The entire staff was enrolled, of which a total of 1,737 employees were surveyed. We used a questionnaire exploring socio-demographic and working characteristics of the employees, the various areas related to job satisfaction and interviewee opinions on the merger process. Multivariable stepwise backward logistic regression models were built to identify factors independently associated with lower job satisfaction. The results of a multivariable analysis showed that lower job satisfaction was more likely in employees with an administrative role (aOR: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.37–4.00) or a career demotion (aOR: 1.84, 95%CI: 1.11–3.03). High levels of mental stress were strongly associated with lower job satisfaction (aOR: 5.64, 95%CI: 4.16–7.64). “More equity of employee rewards” was the only example of a set of responder suggestions found to be associated with lower job satisfaction (aOR: 2.30, 95%CI: 1.51–3.47). Generally, responders showed a good level of job satisfaction—and this was also the case following the merger—but some job profile determinants were strongly associated with low employee satisfaction. The results of the study highlighted several challenging areas and critical issues relating to working conditions. Further surveys are required to confirm these results and to monitor their evolution over time

“Dipartimento Senza Fumo”: un intervento di promozione della salute in ambito universitario

Il consumo di tabacco comporta molteplici aspetti, non solo sanitari ma anche socio-culturali, psicologici ed economici. Promuovere una cultura libera dal tabacco, quindi, richiede un approccio globale e multifattoriale. Tenendo conto della normativa vigente a livello nazionale e all’interno dell’Università Sapienza di Roma, il Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive ha sviluppato il progetto “Dipartimento senza fumo” per promuovere la salute del singolo, della comunità e la salvaguardia dell’ambiente. L’obiettivo del presente studio è rendere il Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive un luogo libero dal fumo, costituendo un modello di promozione della salute nel pieno rispetto della normativa vigente, tutelando la salute e la sicurezza nei luoghi di lavoro e/o di studio e assicurando il decoro nei luoghi pubblici. Lo studio si propone, inoltre, di favorire la “Health Literacy” come una delle “missions” universitarie e di sensibilizzare altri dipartimenti a diventare luoghi liberi dal fumo

Examining the Influence of Operational Intellectual Capital on Capabilities and Performance

Managers have long been challenged by an abundance of internal and external demands and uncertainties in their operating environments. Anecdotal evidence and a growing number of research studies have advocated process flexibility and product innovation as organization-level operating capabilities critical for responding to such demands and uncertainties, and have highlighted the need for more efficient and effective management of the firm's knowledge-based resources. Leveraging arguments from the resource-based and knowledge-based views of the firm, we introduce a second-order latent construct called operational intellectual capital, which represents the organization's operating know-how embedded in a system of complementary (i.e., covarying) knowledge-based resources. We argue that operational intellectual capital influences organization-level operating capabilities such as process flexibility and product innovation, which, in turn, influence business performance. We empirically examine these relationships using structural equation modeling on a cross-section of U.S. manufacturing survey data. Statistical results from the estimation of a coalignment model and comparisons with several other models support our operational intellectual capacity conceptualization and its impact on operating capabilities and business performance, respectively. Our research thus suggests the importance of possessing and leveraging a system of complementary knowledge-based operating resources, and addresses the need for the reformulation of operations strategy theory in terms of the emergent knowledge-based view of the firm.operations strategy, operational intellectual capital, operating capabilities, business performance, structural equation modeling