Positive impact of mindfulness meditation on mental health of female teachers during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy

The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent public health measures were shown to impact negatively on people\u2019s mental health. In particular, women were reported to be at higher risk than men of developing symptoms of stress/anxiety/depression, and resilience was considered a key factor for positive mental health outcomes. In the present study, a sample of Italian female teachers (n = 66, age: 51.5 \ub1 7.9 years) was assessed with self-report instruments one month before and one month after the start of the Covid-19 lockdown: mindfulness skills, empathy, personality profiles, interoceptive awareness, psychological well-being, emotional distress and burnout levels were measured. Meanwhile, they received an 8-week Mindfulness-Oriented Meditation (MOM) course, through two group meetings and six individual video-lessons. Based on baseline personality profiles, analyses of variance were performed in a low-resilience (LR, n = 32) and a high-resilience (HR, n = 26) group. The LR and HR groups differed at baseline in most of the self-report measures. Pre\u2013post MOM significant improvements were found in both groups in anxiety, depression, affective empathy, emotional exhaustion, psychological well-being, interoceptive awareness, character traits and mindfulness levels. Improvements in depression and psychological well-being were higher in the LR vs. HR group. We conclude that mindfulness-based training can effectively mitigate the psychological negative consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak, helping in particular to restore well-being in the most vulnerable individuals

Stuck Outside and Inside: An Exploratory Study on the Effects of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Italian Parents and Children\u2019s Internalizing Symptoms

The Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown have profoundly impacted families\u2019 daily life, challenging their psychological resilience. Our study aimed to investigate the immediate psychological consequences of the pandemic on Italian parents and children focusing on internalizing and post-traumatic symptoms. We also wanted to explore the impact of possible risk and resilience factors, e.g., lifestyle and behaviors, emotional and cognitive beliefs, on parents and children\u2019s reaction to the emergency distress. An online survey was administered during the country\u2019s nationwide lockdown to 721 Italian parents of at least one child aged between 6 and 18 years. The respondent completed the survey for himself/herself and his/her child. The survey included socio-demographic items and validated questionnaires on parents\u2019 post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and anxiety levels, and on children\u2019s internalizing problems. Parents were asked to fill the questionnaires twice: once referring to the current emergency condition and once recalling how they and their child felt a few months before Covid-19 outbreak. Multiple regression analyses showed that specific demographic characteristics (i.e., sex and age) and psychological factors of children and parents, such as fear of contagion and the opportunity to think about possible secondary positive effects of the pandemic, had a predictive value on the presence of internalizing symptoms of both parents and children. Moreover, parents\u2019 behaviors during the lockdown period (i.e., employment status and sport practiced) were significantly related to their own internalizing symptoms; these symptoms, in turn, had a strong and positive predictive value on children\u2019s internalizing problems. Besides, analyses of variance showed that internalizing symptoms of parents and children were significantly higher during the Covid-19 pandemic than before it started. In addition to showing a direct effect of the pandemic on the psychological health of parents and children, the present results also give a series of important information on how parents perceive, and therefore influence, their children in this period of emergency. Our findings thus highlight the urgent need to provide parents with adequate support to take care of their own psychological wellbeing and to help their children coping with the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic

Effects of Mind-Body Interventions on Adolescents’ Cooperativeness and Emotional Symptoms

Background: Mind-body interventions may support the development of adolescents’ self-regulation and provide a protective effect against maladaptive outcomes, e.g., internalizing and externalizing problems. The present study aimed at evaluating the effects of mindfulness-oriented meditation training (MOM) and autogenic training (AT) on a group of healthy Italian adolescents’ character dimensions, emotional and behavioral difficulties. Methods: 72 adolescents were randomly assigned to MOM/AT conditions and tested before and after the 8-week trainings through self-report measures (Temperament and Character Inventory 125, TCI; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for Adolescents, SDQ-A). Main analyses involved robust and repeated measures ANOVAs, carried out separately for character TCI and SDQ-A scales. Results: After trainings, we found increased levels of cooperativeness and reduced emotional symptoms. Changes in these dimensions were negatively correlated: the more participants increased in their cooperativeness the greater decrease they showed in emotional symptoms. Conclusion: Both MOM and AT enhanced a cooperative attitude in adolescents and helped reducing their emotional problems. Therefore, it may be useful to apply these mind-body interventions in school settings as they can have a protective effect on the well-being and psychosocial adjustment of youths, through fostering their character maturity and helping them to better regulate their emotions

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Affect, Fear, and Personality of Primary School Children Measured During the Second Wave of Infections in 2020

In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, a large body of research has identified a negative impact on individuals' affectivity, frequently documented by increased prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms. For children, this research was less extensive, was mainly based on caregivers' reports and neglected personality assessment. In order to measure the impact of the pandemic, and the fears it caused, on primary school children's affect and personality, 323 (180 boys and 143 girls) Italian third, fourth and fifth graders were assessed between October and November 2020, namely during the second wave of COVID-19 infections in Italy, with validated self-reports of affect (Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children, PANAS-C), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale, FCV-19S) and personality (junior Temperament and Character Inventory, jTCI). In comparison with PANAS-C and jTCI normative scores collected prior to the pandemic, data obtained from children in 2020 showed unchanged affect scores in the overall sample, a decrease of Positive Affect in girls, and a decrease in the Harm Avoidance and an increase in the Self-Transcendence scales of personality. Fear of COVID-19 scores were positively correlated with Negative Affect scores and negatively predicted by children's personality profile of resilience (calculated using scores on the Harm Avoidance and the Self-Directedness scales of personality). These results suggested that Italian primary school children, especially boys, maintained their pre-pandemic levels of affect (or restored them after the first COVID-19 wave) and partially diverged from the typical development of personality in an apparently positive sense, namely toward more courageous/optimistic and spiritual profiles. This sort of children's post-traumatic growth might also be attributed to children's family and education systems, which should continue to be supported to promote and maintain community mental health

The role of self body brushing vs mindfulness meditation on interoceptive awareness: A non-randomized pilot study on healthy participants with possible implications for body image disturbances

Introduction: Adaptive interoceptive awareness has been revealed to be an important factor for mental health. Touch is one of the modalities through which we perceive bodily feelings. In this pilot study, self touch's role in enhancing interoceptive awareness was investigated. It was tested by means of a Self Body Brushing (SBB) procedure, which entails self-administered brushing of the entire body. Methods: A pre vs. post three-arm design was used, with 49 healthy adult participants. The SBB training was delivered to a first group (N = 13) and a Mindfulness-Oriented Meditation (MOM) training to a second group (N = 15), considered as a reference intervention for promoting interoceptive awareness; a third group of inactive control participants (N = 14) was also included. Assessment included two self-report questionnaires: the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: In several MAIA scales significant changes were observed: for Noticing, Attention regulation and Body listening, an overall improvement was observed, which was particularly due to changes in the active groups (SBB and MOM); Emotional awareness and Self-regulation scores increased more in the SBB group than in the other two groups. In the PSS measure, the changes in the active groups did not produce a statistically significant effect relative to the control group. Conclusions: SBB led to improvements in several aspects of self-reported interoceptive awareness at least as well as mindfulness meditation training. Further studies could investigate the potential effectiveness of SBB for promoting individual psychophysical health and well-being, in particular in the case of body image disturbances

LEGGERE PER CAPIRE, CAPIRE PER SCRIVERE. DALLA LETTURA DEI TESTI ALLA SCRITTURA DI SINTESI: Atti del corso di formazione per insegnanti e studenti di laurea magistrale. Riflessioni intorno ai corsi OFA sulla comprensione del testo e ai corsi di scrittura, Università degli Sudi di Padova, a.a. 2019/2020 e 2020/2021. Contributi di: Angela Ferrari, Luciano Zampese, Carlo Enrico Roggia, Paola Marinetto, Augusto Campagnolo, Paola Iannacci, Walter Paschetto

ATT