The Fear of Contagion and the Attitude Toward the Restrictive Measures Imposed to Face COVID-19 in Italy: The Psychological Consequences Caused by the Pandemic One Year After It Began

open2The pandemic nature of COVID-19 has caused major changes in health, economy, and society globally. Albeit to a lesser extent, contingent access to shops and places to socialize the imposition of social distancing and the use of indoor masks is measures still in force today (more than a year after the start of the pandemic), with repercussions on economic, social, and psychological levels. The fear of contagion, in fact, has led us to be increasingly suspicious and to isolate ourselves from the remainder of the community. This has had repercussions on the perception of loneliness, with significant psychological consequences, such as the development of stress, anxiety, and, in extreme cases, depressive symptoms. Starting from these assumptions, this research was developed with the aim of deepening the perceptions that the participants have of their own mental health, loneliness, fear linked to contagion, and attitudes toward imposed social distancing. In particular, we wanted to analyze whether there is a relationship between perceived fear and the perceived level of mental health, loneliness, and attitude toward social distancing. Finally, we wanted to analyze whether there are differences related to gender, age, marital status, current working mode, and educational qualifications. The research, performed after the diffusion of the vaccination in Italy, lasted 14 days. The participants were 500 Italians who voluntarily joined the study and were recruited with random cascade sampling. The research followed a quantitative approach. The analyzed data, from participants residing throughout the national territory, allow us to return the picture of the perceptions that Italians have of the fear of contagion, of their level of mental health, of loneliness and of their attitude toward social distancing. In particular, the data show that fear of COVID-19 is an emotional state experienced by the entire population and that young people have suffered more from loneliness and have been less inclined to accept the imposed social distancing. The data that emerged should make policymakers reflect on the need to find functional strategies to combat COVID-19 or other health emergency crises whose effects do not affect the psychological wellbeing of the population.openRania, Nadia; Coppola, IlariaRania, Nadia; Coppola, Ilari

Mothers and Workers in the Time of COVID-19: Negotiating Motherhood within Smart Working

The article is an autoethnographic account written by three Italian academic researchers and mothers with children of different ages. The authors engage in a reflection starting with their experience as working women committed to the work–family negotiation process while facing the COVID-19 health emergency that has affected the whole world. This article focuses on how we, as middle-class, heterosexual, white mothers working in a privileged employment context during the period of the pandemic lockdown, negotiated the complex mother and worker roles, balancing work and family time while smart working (teleworking from home). We start with a reflection on the use of autoethnography as a research tool and then propose an analysis of work–family balance strategies in an anomalous situation, such as that of the lockdown, highlighting the tensions in gender roles within dual-career families

Reflections on Teaching Qualitative Methods Using Team-Based Learning: An Exemplification by Photovoice

This research article as a part of larger study intends to explore the role of teaching qualitative methods is not easy and often represents a great challenge. In this work, we describe our experience of teaching a qualitative methods course for undergraduate psychology students. In this course, we used a Team-Based Learning (TBL) approach in which we had students cluster into small groups to enhance their education by having them become more active in their learning. To teach qualitative methods, we used TBL and in this paper, we present the exemplification of this method by choosing Photovoice. The Team-Based methods may be thought of as a new approach for teaching qualitative methods at the university because it allows the students to reach relevant life skills, like reflexivity, sensitivity, and critical thinking that are relevant not only for qualitative researchers but also for the psychologists and the social service professionals

Team-based learning and life skills: a qualitative study from psychological students point of view.

Purpose: This research employs a modified Team-Based Learning method to realise students perspective on how it can develop traits characteristics such individual growth and important life skills, like critical thinking. In fact the higher education has been criticized for not developing the competences specific for professional expertise, which are a necessary requirement in the training of psychologists in Europe today. The present work goes beyond the employment of TBL method mainly in courses regarding healthcare, enriching the small number of studies that used TBL in teaching Psychology. Methods: Taking part in these study 50 psychology students of a university of the northwester Italy. The study used the qualitative method of the diary. Participants were asked to write a diary about their TBL experience. The content of the diaries was analysed using the qualitative analysis software NVivo. Results: The topics strictly concerning the team and its functioning, emerged are: team, communication, comparisons with other teams, feelings, group atmosphere, TBL method\u2019s strengths, TBL method\u2019s weaknesses and evaluation. Participants identified TBL as a positive experience and one, which the university system should employ more in its courses. This experience allowed them, in their opinion, to develop important life skills, like critical thinking. From those findings is possible to affirm that modified TBL is a method much appreciated by students because improve their personal growth. They identified overall positive emotions arising from the TBL experience, especially in relation to their expectations about the result of the final exam. Generally, students appreciate TBL experience: teams are described with a positive impression of teammates, as a place where mutual listening and open and a collaborative atmosphere are experienced. Conclusion: This study improves the lacking literature about the employment of TBL in psychology classes by qualitative approach

A Qualitative Approach Using Diaries and Interviews

1. Nadia Rania[1][1][⇑][2] 2. Laura Migliorini[1][1] 3. Stefania Rebora[1][1] 4. Paola Cardinali[1][1] 1. 1DISFOR, Department of Education Science, University of Genoa, Italy 1. Nadia Rania, DISFOR, Department of Education Science, University of Genoa, C.so A. Podesta, 2, 16121 Genoa, Italy. Email: nadia.rania{at}unige.it This study compares Italian mothers' and Ecuadorian immigrant mothers' daily family routines. Thirty mothers took part in this investigation: 15 Italians ( M = 37.5 years, with ages ranging from 30 to 42 years) and 15 Ecuadorians ( M = 36.1 years, with ages ranging from 18 to 46 years and having lived in Italy for an average of 15 years), with children ranging in age from 4 to 8 years. The objective is to highlight the differences and similarities between the daily routines and family relations that characterize the lives of each of the two groups of participants. The instruments employed in service of these aims were in-depth interviews and diaries. The results showed similarities regarding the routines of Italian and Ecuadorian families. However, a relevant difference emerged regarding their perceptions of social support. Specifically, Italians receive more social support from their parents than do Ecuadorians, who are supported more by other relatives or by friends. [1]: #aff-1 [2]: #corresp-

Family well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: Gender differences and solidarity networks of care

During the COVID-19 pandemic, families experienced new challenges related to reorganizing living spaces and the need to renegotiate domestic and care roles. This paper aims to understand how Italian families have reacted to this situation with respect to psychological well-being, the management of domestic and care activities and solidarity networks of care. The participants were 560 Italian subjects who reported having a parental role. The protocol included a measure of well-being (the General Health Questionnaire-12) and some questions related to the time dedicated to domestic activities or to caring for people, the perception of conflict within the family and solidarity networks of care. The data underline how mothers continued to devote more time to home and care activities than fathers, despite the presence of both partners at home during the lockdown. The results also indicate that mothers participated to a greater extent than fathers in solidarity activities, confirming that this dimension is linked to gender. Furthermore, fathers and mothers perceived a lower condition of well-being in relation to the pre-pandemic period

Care Tasks and New Routines for Italian Families during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from Women

The lockdown management during the COVID-19 pandemic has been very complex for families. The present study is part of a broader interdisciplinary research and follows the gender perspective, which has made it possible to bring a focus on the pandemic starting with women who, within family dynamics, have suffered most from the effects of the lockdown, having to manage multiple roles simultaneously and in the same place. The data were collected through an on-line survey. The aim is to understand how family routines were structured during the lockdown and how women’s emotional regulation developed during this period. Moreover, a further area of investigation focused on the distribution of domestic work and childcare among partners and on the relationships between smart working and the family dimension. The participants are 300 women living in different Italian region. The data highlights how during lockdown women with children have more regulatory and relational routines than women without children and that during this period both regulatory and relational routines become less consistent. It also emerges that women perceive that they dedicate more time to domestic activities and childcare than their partners do anthe effects of the lockdown, having to manage multiple roles simultaneously and in the same place. The data were collected through an on-line survey. The aim is to understand how family routines were structured during the lockdown and how women’s emotional regulation developed during this period. Moreover, a further area of investigation focused on the distribution of domestic work and childcare among partners and on the relationships between smart working and the family dimension. The participants are 300 women living in different Italian region. The data highlights how during lockdown women with children have more regulatory and relational routines than women without children and that during this period both regulatory and relational routines become less consistent. It also emerges that women perceive that they dedicate more time to domestic activities and childcare than their partners do and that the time dedicated to childcare is greater in the 0-6 year range. Moreover, it emerges clearly how reconciling the smart working with the family dimension is not always easy

Women Face to Fear and Safety Devices During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Impact of Physical Distancing on Individual Responsibility, Intimate, and Social Relationship

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 in Italy had its first epidemic manifestations on January 31, 2020. The socio-sanitary rules imposed by the government concerned the social distance and management of intimate relationships, the sense of individual responsibility toward public health. Physical distancing and housing isolation have produced new representations of intrafamily, generational, neighborhood, community responsibility, bringing out a new “medicalized dimension” of society. In light of this contextual framework, the research aims are to analyze how: the perception of individual responsibility for public and familial health and physical distancing has redrawn the relation between subjects-family-community; the State’s technical-health intervention has reformulated the idea of social closeness, but also how the pandemic fear and social confinement has re-evaluated a desire for community, neighborhood, proximity; during the lockdown families, friends, neighbors have reconstructed feelings of closeness and forms of belonging. The methodology used is quanti-qualitative and involved 300 women through an online questionnaire. The data collected highlight how the house during the lockdown is perceived as a safe place and how women implement both the recommendations and the behaviors aimed at preventing contagion, but also ways that allow coping with the situation from a perspective of well-being. Furthermore, the data show how the dimension of distancing has loosened the relational dimension outside the family unit, with a greater distancing compared to pre-pandemic data. However, the majority of women report that they have joined solidarity initiatives, demonstrating that they want to maintain ties and participate actively in community life

Novel Β-lactams and Thiazolidinone Derivatives from 1,4-dihydroquinoxaline Schiff’s Base: Synthesis, Antimicrobial Activity and Molecular Docking Studies

A series of novel isolated β-lactams 3a-c and thiazolidinone derivatives 4a-c were successfully synthesized from reactions of new Schiff's bases 2a-c with chloroacetyl chloride and thioglycolic acid. The chemical structures of the new compounds were confirmed through different spectroscopic techniques including IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the obtained compounds was assessed in-vitro against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria and Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans fungi. Furthermore, a molecular docking study was carried out and the results indicated that compounds 3b and 4b displayed comparable binding affinity scores as that of glutamate. These two compounds are promising candidates as antibacterial and antifungal agents that would deserve further investigations