Self-efficacy and medicine use for headache among adolescents in Italy: results from the Italian HBSC 2010 study

This article aims first to investigate gender patterns in medicine use, and corresponding headache complaints, in Italian adolescents; second, to examine the association between self-efficacy and medicine use for headache. This study used data from 23,941 15-year-old students participating in the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey. Self-complete questionnaires devised by the HBSC international group were administered in classrooms. Logistic regression models (controlling demographics: age, gender, and FAS) were used to investigate the association between medicine use for the associated health complaint, and perceived self-efficacy. Overall, prevalence of students reporting medicine use for headache (at least once a month) was 40.1%. Medicine use was significantly more common among girls than among boys for that somatic symptom. The use of medicines was significantly associated with the frequency of the corresponding health complaint. Selfefficacy was associated with a lower use of medicine for headache just for the group with low frequency of headache. In conclusion, self-efficacy may reduce the tendency to use medicines when adolescents report infrequent headaches

Staff members’ experience of Italian shelters for LGBTQIA+ homeless and runaway people: an exploratory study

Background: Some LGBTQIA+ people, after coming out, experience marginalization and homelessness due to rejection and discrimination from their family and community. The increase in support requests led to the creation of LGBTQIA+ temporary shelter homes worldwide. This study aims to explore the functioning and effectiveness of shelters, analyzing the experiences of staff members in Italy. Methods: Focus groups were held with a total of 15 staff members (age range: 32–53) working in three shelters for LGBTQIA+ people. Data were analyzed qualitatively through the grounded theory methodology. Results: Data coding showed five final core categories: (1) user characteristics; (2) staff characteristics; (3) community relations; (4) activities carried out by services; (5) criteria for intervention assessment and staff satisfaction. Results revealed some criticalities in the effectiveness of these services, particularly the difficulty in achieving autonomy for users, a weakness attributable to the non-exhaustive training of staff members and the funding discontinuity. Conclusion: To improve the efficacy of shelters, this study emphasizes the necessity to (a) carry out an analysis of the vulnerability of the local LGBTQIA+ community, (b) establish a stable network with local services (NHS system), and (c) implement staff members’ psychological training

Body image and psychosocial well-being in early adolescent development.

Introduction: Body dissatisfaction is a determining factor in defining psychosocial well being in early adolescence. During this period, young people progressively redefine their aesthetic standards. This new body concept influences how girls evaluate and accept their own appearance and is related to the psychophysical changes they undergo during this developmental phase. The aim of this study is to investigate how this change in body image evolves in a sample of early adolescent girls. Sample: The sample was composed of 2,408 early adolescent females from the Veneto region, subdivided into three age groups (761 11-year-olds, 734 13-year-olds, and 913 15-year-olds). Results: Correspondence analysis reveals how, in the 11-years-old group, feeling unattractive is only related to being overweight; this relation, however changes with increases age, when feeling unattractive is not anymore a synonymous of being overweight, and a new association can be observed in older girls who feel underweight and perceive themselves as attractive. Conclusion: Body image components change considerably during the early adolescence transition

Using a modified version of photovoice in a European cross‐national study on homelessness

This study proposes an innovative use of a modified version of photovoice for cross‐national qualitative research that allows participants to express their ideas, experiences, and emotions about a topic through photographic language. We examine factors affecting social service providers' work on people experiencing homelessness in Europe. We highlight five advantages of using photovoice in cross‐national research: visual language, methodological flexibility, participatory data analysis, the bottom‐up process, and the promotion of social change. Moreover, we identify key stages of the process: writing a detailed protocol for the implementation and fidelity of the projects, using two levels of data analysis, and disseminating the results. This study provides lessons learned for others who may want to use photovoice in cross‐national research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

UNA MODALITÀ DI REALIZZAZIONE DEL SERVICE LEARNING: IL PROGRAMMA MENTOR-UP

Nell’articolo, dopo una breve introduzione sul modello del mentoring con i minori a rischio, viene presentata una sintetica rassegna della letteratura sulle connessioni tra mentoring e service learning e successivamente su quali processi attiva una relazione di mentoring

UNA MODALITÀ DI REALIZZAZIONE DEL SERVICE LEARNING: IL PROGRAMMA MENTOR-UP

Nell’articolo, dopo una breve introduzione sul modello del mentoring con i minori a rischio, viene presentata una sintetica rassegna della letteratura sulle connessioni tra mentoring e service learning e successivamente su quali processi attiva una relazione di mentoring

UNA MODALITÀ DI REALIZZAZIONE DEL SERVICE LEARNING: IL PROGRAMMA MENTOR-UP

Nell’articolo, dopo una breve introduzione sul modello del mentoring con i minori a rischio, viene presentata una sintetica rassegna della letteratura sulle connessioni tra mentoring e service learning e successivamente su quali processi attiva una relazione di mentoring

Validation of the reasons for gambling questionnaire (RGQ) in a British population survey

Introduction. The aim of the study is to validate the five-dimensional structure of the Reasons for Gambling Questionnaire (RGQ) and to test the differences between different types of gamblers (i.e., offline gamblers who gambled in-person only vs.mixed-mode gamblers who gambled both online and offline) on the five dimensions of the RGQ. Methods. Data from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) were used. The analysed data comprised 5,677 individuals (52.7% female; mean age=47.64 years; SD=17.82). Confirmatory factor analysis and independent-samples t-tests were applied. Results. The five-dimensional structure of the RGQ wasconfirmed in the general sample and among gender and age subgroups. Furthermore, mixed-mode gamblers (MMGs) who gambled both online and offline had higher scores for enhancement, recreation and money motives than offline gamblers that gambled in-person only (IPGs). In addition among males, there was a significant difference in the scores for enhancement and recreation motives across MMGs and IPGs. Among past-year gamblers aged 16-34 years, MMGs had higher scores for enhancement, recreational and monetary motives than IPGs whilst among past-year gamblers aged 35-55years, MMGs had higher scores for enhancement and recreational motives than IPGs. Conclusions. The results are consistent with a previous test of the RGQ and the findings indicate that the RGQis a valid instrument to assess gambling motives among the general population

Electronic media communication with friends from 2002 to 2006 and links to face-to-face contacts in adolescence: an HBSC study in 31 European and North American countries and regions

Objective—Because the potential for electronic media communication (EMC) has increased greatly, it is of interest to describe trends in EMC between adolescents and their friends and to investigate whether EMC facilitate or supersede face-to-face contacts among peers. Methods—Answers of 275,571 adolescents concerning contacting friends by means of the phone, text messages, and the internet (i. e. EMC), the number of close friends, and the number of afternoons and evenings per week spent out with friends were analysed by means of χ2-tests and multiple regression. Results—In 2006, between more than one third (11-year olds) and nearly two thirds (15-year olds) communicated electronically with their friends daily or nearly daily. From 2002 to 2006, EMC increased in almost all participating countries. Particularly high increases were found in Eastern Europe. Across countries, the higher the frequency of EMC the higher the number of afternoons and evenings spent with friends. Conclusion—The results are surprisingly consistent across the 31 countries and suggest that EMC among adolescents facilitate rather than supersede face-to-face peer contact