La storia delle università alle soglie del XXI secolo. La ricerca dei giovani studiosi tra fonti e nuovi percorsi d’indagine. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi (Aosta, 18-20 dicembre 2006)

Il volume raccoglie gli interventi di giovani ricercatori che in questi ultimi anni si sono dedicati alla ricerca della storia delle universit

Introduzione

Breve presentazione dei 29 contributi contenuti nel volume divisi in quattro sezioni: le fonti, i maestri, gli studenti, università e istituzion

La delegittimazione politica nell\u2019et\ue0 contemporanea 3, Conflitto politico e propaganda elettorale in Europa e negli Stati Uniti (1861-1989)

Negli ultimi anni nel dibattito pubblico si \ue8 parlato ripetutamente di delegittimazione dell\u2019avversario politico e l\u2019attualit\ue0 del concetto \ue8 provata dall\u2019emergere di movimenti politici populisti \u2013 di destra come di sinistra \u2013 e da movimenti neo-nazionalisti e a volte neo o parafascisti che si rivolgono al sistema politico e alle \ue9lite che lo compongono come fossero \uabnemici\ubb. Il presente volume analizza le modalit\ue0 della delegittimazione dell\u2019avversario nelle campagne elettorali, nel XIX e XX secolo, in Francia, Germania, Gran Bretagna, Irlanda, Italia e Stati Uniti configurandola come una strategia volta a porre l\u2019avversario al di fuori dei valori fondativi della comunit\ue0 politica e come un fenomeno ricorrente nelle democrazie contemporanee, ma con esiti diversi sulla stabilit\ue0 dei sistemi politici

The Specific Level of Functioning Scale: Construct validity, internal consistency and factor structure in a large Italian sample of people with schizophrenia living in the community

In people suffering from schizophrenia, major areas of everyday life are impaired, including independent living, productive activities and social relationships. Enhanced understanding of factors that hinder real-life functioning is vital for treatments to translate into more positive outcomes. The goal of the present study was to identify predictors of real-life functioning in people with schizophrenia, and to assess their relative contribution. Based on previous literature and clinical experience, several factors were selected and grouped into three categories: illness-related variables, personal resources and context-related factors. Some of these variables were never investigated before in relationship with real-life functioning. In 921 patients with schizophrenia living in the community, we found that variables relevant to the disease, personal resources and social context explain 53.8% of real-life functioning variance in a structural equation model. Neurocognition exhibited the strongest, though indirect, association with real-life functioning. Positive symptoms and disorganization, as well as avolition, proved to have significant direct and indirect effects, while depression had no significant association and poor emotional expression was only indirectly and weakly related to real-life functioning. Availability of a disability pension and access to social and family incentives also showed a significant direct association with functioning. Social cognition, functional capacity, resilience, internalized stigma and engagement with mental health services served as mediators. The observed complex associations among investigated predictors, mediators and real-life functioning strongly suggest that integrated and personalized programs should be provided as standard treatment to people with schizophrenia

The Specific Level of Functioning Scale: Construct validity, internal consistency and factor structure in a large Italian sample of people with schizophrenia living in the community

Background: The study aimed to assess the construct validity, internal consistency and factor structure of the Specific Levels of Functioning Scale (SLOF), a multidimensional instrument assessing real life functioning. Methods: The study was carried out in 895 Italian people with schizophrenia, all living in the community and attending the outpatient units of 26 university psychiatric clinics and/or community mental health departments. The construct validity of the SLOF was analyzed by means of the multitrait-multimethod approach, using the Personal and Social Performance (PSP) Scale as the gold standard. The factor structure of the SLOF was examined using both an exploratory principal component analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The six factors identified using exploratory principal component analysis explained 57.1% of the item variance. The examination of the multitrait-multimethod matrix revealed that the SLOF factors had high correlations with PSP factors measuring the same constructs and low correlations with PSP factors measuring different constructs. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) corroborated the 6-factor structure reported in the original validation study. Loadings were all significant and ranged from a minimum of 0.299 to a maximum of 0.803. The CFA model was adequately powered and had satisfactory goodness of fit indices (comparative fit index = 0.927, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.920 and root mean square error of approximation = 0.047, 95% CI 0.045-0.049). Conclusion: The present study confirms, in a large sample of Italian people with schizophrenia living in the community, that the SLOF is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of social functioning. It has good construct validity and internal consistency, and a well-defined factor structure