Factores protectores y de riesgo del sueño de los niños pequeños y del estrés de los padres

The current study examined the network of relationships among toddlers’ quality of sleep and emotion regulation, parental bedtime practices and involvement, parental self-perceived social support and stress, integrating a novel combination of psychosocial dimensions into a predictive model of quality of sleep and parental stress in a sample of 80 families with 2–3-year-old children. The results indicated that infants’ emotion regulation, as well as proximal context variables, considering both maternal and paternal psychosocial functioning predicted variance in parental levels of stress. Furthermore, the findings showed that the number of child’s night awakenings reported by mothersand thetimerequested bytoddlersto fallasleep, were significantly related to parental distress levels as referred by both parents.En el presente estudio se examinó la red de relaciones entre la calidad del sueño y la regulación de las emociones de los niños pequeños, las prácticas y la participación de los padres a la hora de acostarse, el apoyo social y el estrés de los padres, integrando una novedosa combinación de dimensiones psicosociales en un modelo predictivo de la calidad del sueño y el estrés de los padres en una muestra de 80 familias con niños de 2 a 3 años de edad. Los resultados indicaron que la regulación de las emociones de los lactantes, así como las variables de contexto próximo, teniendo en cuenta el funcionamiento psicosocial tanto materno como paterno, predecían la varianza de los niveles de estrés de los padres. Además, los resultados mostraron que el número de vigilancias nocturnas del niño comunicadas por las madres y el tiempo solicitado por los niños pequeños para dormirse, estaban significativamente relacionados con los niveles de estrés de los padres según lo referido por ambos padres

Parents' Perceptions and Experiences with Their Children's Use of Augmentative/Alternative Communication: A Systematic Review and Qualitative Meta-Synthesis

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) consists of any method of communicating that supplements or completely substitutes oral and/or written language when it is impaired. Therefore, it enables children with complex communication needs to develop their full communicative potential. However, despite the many benefits of AAC and its widespread use, several review studies have underscored the problems faced by parents and children who use AAC in their daily lives. The general objective of this systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis is to provide a complete overview of parents' experiences and perceptions with their children's use of AAC. Specifically, it aimed to identify common themes and subthemes of interest and to analyze the research quality of the selected studies. An exhaustive literature search was carried out using different electronic databases. Nineteen studies were included, involving 297 parents. A thematic synthesis was undertaken. Three main themes and nine subthemes were identified: service support (accessibility, providers and coordination); characteristics of AAC systems (usability and acceptability, features, cost and funding); and integration of AAC in daily life (family, school, social and community). Findings raise a need for more services that support children with complex communication deficits in different contexts, more functional use of AAC systems at school and in real-world situations, as well as service assistance over an extended time period

Dispositional traits and their impact on teachers’ health: a cress-cultural comparison between India and Italy

Background: Teachers’ health has emerged as a crucial topic of the quality of the school system. In fact, high rates of attrition and burnout among teachers have emerged to cause their turn-over, sick leave and early retirement, as well as poor quality of the educational activities. The role of negative emotions and feelings experienced at work, in fact, has undoubtedly proven to have a strong impact on the general health of teachers. On the other hand, studies on well-being have proven to offer important opportunities to set up effective policies dealing with public health. More specifically, the role of dispositional, positive affect, such as happiness and self-esteem, has proven to be linked to individuals’ health. Quite surprisingly, this link have not been addressed yet adequately among teachers. Moreover, observing the mediating role played by the teachers’ working environment between dispositional traits and their health may help to develop effective measure for improving teachers’ well-being and the educational attainments of their students. In this respect it is interesting also to operate cross-country comparisons, in order to shed a light on the possible different, effects due to the different educational system and cultural environment. Aims of the study: To develop an exploratory study, aimed at investigating the mediating role played by job satisfaction between teachers’ happiness and self-esteem on the one hand and their physical and mental health on the other. To compare India and Italy, in order to highlight the possible differences between the two countries. Methods: A questionnaire was administered, containing questions about participants’ background information and the following scales: the Job Satisfaction Survey, the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale, the Physical and Mental Health Scales (SF12), and the Ivens Scale in the Adapted Version for Teachers: School Children’s Happiness Inventory (SCHI). Participants were 300 primary and middle school teachers from the India and about 250 teachers from Italy. Results: Job satisfaction fully mediates between both happiness and self-esteem, and health teachers in both groups of teachers. Happiness and Self-esteem are linked positively to teachers’ health. Conclusion: Work is a relevant domain to promote teachers’ health, through job satisfaction

Exploring the impact of augmented reality in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a systematic review

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent difficulties in communication and social interaction along with a restriction in interests and the presence of repetitive behaviors. The development and use of augmented reality technology for autism has increased in recent years. However, little is known about the impact of these virtual reality technologies on clinical health symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the impact of augmented reality through social, cognitive, and behavioral domains in children and adolescents with autism. This study is the first contribution that has carried out an evidence-based systematic review including relevant science databases about the effectiveness of augmented reality-based intervention in ASD. The initial search identified a total of 387 records. After the exclusion of papers that are not research studies and are duplicated articles and after screening the abstract and full text, 20 articles were selected for analysis. The studies examined suggest promising findings about the effectiveness of augmented reality-based treatments for the promotion, support, and protection of health and wellbeing in children and adolescents with autism. Finally, possible directions for future work are discussed.Psicologí

Sleep Quality, Emotion Regulation and Parenting Stress in Children with Congenital Heart Disease

The aim of this study is to evaluate parental perceptions of parent-infant bedtime interactions and quality of sleep, after hospital discharge, in a group of children diagnosed at birth with congenital heart disease (CHD), as compared with the perceptions of parents in a control group of children who were healthy at birth. More specifically, we evaluated the associations between parental stress, parental perceptions of infant emotion regulation, and infants’ bedtime and sleep routines in each of the two groups. Fifty Italian intact two-parent families (23 boys) of toddlers ageing from 11 to 36 months (M= 23.42, SD=7.10) were recruited. 20 families of CHD children group were recruited from the Department of Cardiology at the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, Italy; 30 families of the healthy children group were recruited from two childcare units. Parents completed Emotion Regulation Checklist (Shields Cicchetti, 1997), Parent-Child Sleep Interaction Scale (PSIS; Alfano et al., 2013), Parent-Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin, 1990) and ad-hoc semi-structured interview on child’s sleep quality. The independent-samples t-test evidenced that parents of healthy children reported significantly higher scores on children's emotion regulation compared with the CHD group Specifically CHD children and healthy children's emotion regulation reported both by mothers (respectively CHD children’s mothers: M= 26.11, SD= 2.9; healthy children’s mothers: M= 28.85, SD= 2.71; t(37) = 3.10, p= .004) and fathers (respectively CHD children’s fathers: M=25.76, SD= 2.79; healthy children’s fathers: M= 27.37, SD= 2.02; t(31)= 2.71, p= .010). Main correlational findings showed in the CHD children’s group that parenting stress total scores were positive related to difficult parent-infant bedtime interactions both for mothers (r=.58, p .01) and fathers (r= .70, p .01). Results show significant differences in emotion regulation between the two groups. The results of this research will show to the clinicians the aspects of parent-infant bedtime interactions to be addressed in parents of children with CHD

A Cross-National Comparison on Subjective Well-Being of Kindergarten Teachers: Hong Kong and Italy

Background: Teachers’ subjective well-being (SWB) has received much attention, in the light of the major increase in sick leave as well as job quitting among teachers across different cultures and countries. Studies on SWB of kindergarten teachers are still scarce, since most of the academic literature is focused on teachers of primary and secondary schools.Aims: The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare kindergarten teachers’ SWB in Hong Kong and Italy.Methods: 367 Hong Kong and 243 Italian kindergarten teachers completed a self-report questionnaire containing: the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the General Health Questionnaires-12 (GHQ-12). The questionnaire collected also socio-demographics data.Results: Hierarchical regression analysis showed that country belonging plays the strongest predictive role on self-esteem and mental health. Moreover, the independent t-test showed higher levels of job satisfaction among Italian teachers, while Hong Kong teachers were more satisfied in pay and promotion, but less in supervision, operating condition, co-worker relationship, nature of work, and communication.Conclusion: Results are interpreted in the light of the differences between the two contexts considered, in terms of cultural values and educational systems

Coinvolgimento lavorativo degli educatori del nido e degli insegnanti della scuola dell’infanzia: studio quali-quantitativo

Research shows as work-engagement, enthusiasm and vigor predict work performance and have positive effects on teacher-student relationships and on students' academic outcomes (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter and Taris, 2008; Bakker, Van Emmerik and Euwema, 2006; Duckworth, Quinn and Seligman, 2009). According to our quali-quantitative study, two main aims were set: 1) the evaluation of the predictive role of some dispositional variables (subjective wellbeing, compassion and dispositional positive affect) and of some socio-contextual variables (self/co-regulated proactive strategies, constructive climate) on teachers' work-engagement in educational and scholastic services 0/6 years; 2) the qualitatively exploration of dimensions of promoting well-being in educational services. A group of 189 educators and kindergarten teachers was asked to fill the following questionnaires: the UWES-17 (Schaufeli, 2003), the Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (Sprecher and Fehr, 2005), the Proactive Strategy Scale (Salmela-Aro, 2009), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al, 1988), the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyuborminsky and Lepper, 1999) and the Teacher self-efficacy and ad hoc interview on components of promoting well-being in educational services. Our main quantitative outcomes showed that compassion and proactive strategies predict higher levels of work-engagement over subjective well-being and dispositional positive affect.La letteratura mostra come il coinvolgimento lavorativo, l’entusiasmo e il vigore dei docenti siano predittivi delle prestazioni lavorative ed abbiano un effetto benefico sulle relazioni positive insegnante-studente e sugli esiti accademici degli studenti (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter e Taris, 2008; Bakker, Van Emmerik e Euwema, 2006; Duckworth, Quinn e Seligman, 2009). L’obiettivo del presente studio di carattere quali-quantitativo è stato duplice: 1) valutare il ruolo predittivo,  sul coinvolgimento lavorativo degli operatori dei servizi educativi e scolastici 0/6 anni, di variabili disposizionali (benessere soggettivo, compassione, affettività disposizionale positiva)  e di natura socio-contestuale (strategie proattive auto ed etero regolative, clima costruttivo); 2) esplorare sul piano qualitativo le dimensioni di promozione del benessere nei servizi. Ad un gruppo di 189 educatori e insegnanti della scuola dell’infanzia sono stati somministrati l’UWES-17 (Schaufeli e Bakker, 2004), la Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (Hwang, Plante, e Lackey, 2008), la Proactive Strategy Scale (Salmela-Aro, 2009), la Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, e Tellegen,  1988), la Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyuborminsky e Lepper, 1999) la Teacher self-efficacy ed un intervista qualitativa costruita ad hoc sugli aspetti di promozione del benessere. I principali esiti quantitativi evidenziano come a parità di benessere soggettivo e di affettività disposizionale positiva, la compassione e le strategie proattive sono predittori di un maggior coinvolgimento lavorativo

A web-delivered group intervention supporting parental sensitivity and self-efficacy: an Italian pilot study

Background: Stable parent-infant relationships and adequate ordinary care significantly support children’s development since the very early stages of life. Principal models of intervention sustain parental skills and foster quality of parent-infant interactions since the early infancy. Standardized programs, with a well-defined focus, of short duration, based on specific methods and techniques, represent an effective tool in supporting parental effort. The present pilot study provides a description and an initial evaluation of the brief online “Con i Genitori” (CiG) Intervention, aimed to enhance parental sensitivity, self-efficacy and reduce stress in parents of typically-developed children aging 0-6 years. Methods: The intervention involved parents of typically-developed children aging 0-6 years. Four interactive group sessions, based on well-known empirically-based programs’ assumptions were delivered. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires at baseline (T0) and after CiG (T1). The assessment included the Tool to measure Parenting Self-Efficacy (TOPSE; Kendall Bloomfield, 2005), Parenting Stress Index-SF for parental distress (PSI; Abidin, 1996), Emotional Regulation Checklist for children’s emotional regulation (ERC; Shields Cicchetti et al., 1997) and Social Provision Scale for social support (SPS; Cutrona and Russell, 1987). A weekly “ad-hoc” questionnaire evaluated parental sensitivity.  Moreover, a semi-structured interview measured participants’ satisfaction and acceptability with the intervention one month after its end. Results: Twelve parents completed all the sessions of the CiG (10 mothers, 2 fathers with mean age = 42.7; SD= 6.3). Children mean age was 3.9 (SD=1.9), 58.3% male. Our results showed statistically significant decrease in parental distress and increased social support after attending CiG. No statistically significant variations were detected considering parental self-efficacy. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the potential value of online-delivered interventions targeting parenthood in infancy, supporting parent-infant relationship and positive parenting from early infancy in a public health community approach. Online delivered programs constitute an important resource for addressing unmet parent mental health needs, which may be particularly widespread following the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a valuable alternative to traditional face-to-face interventions targeting parental wellbeing in infancy