The profound, pervasive and enduring consequences of the ageing population present enormous challenges as well as enormous opportunities for Information and Communication Technology. In this paper we ...report an architecture designed to monitor, support and manage the physical activities of the elderly. We realized an unobtrusive wireless body area network to ecologically track the lower body parts motion integrated with electrocardiographic, respiration and surface electromyographic signals. We report the assessment of the user activities and muscular fatigue through an activity management system in order to minimise the risk and maximise the benefits for the user.
There are currently approximately 45 million people in Europe who report a long standing health problem or disability; according to the World Health Organization data the total number of persons ...chronically ill are 860 million at a worldwide level. Within a person centric health management framework, the modern healthcare systems must move away from the 'health care' to 'health management' in order to shift from 'how to treat patients' to 'how to keep people healthy'. Assistive and health monitoring technologies can help to automatically identify and address major deficits. In this work we describe a wearable pervasive platform able to monitor the muscular fatigue during his/her daily life. Our system monitors the performance of a subject through the evaluation of sEMG signals using a wearable device aimed to immediately recognize the onset of muscular fatigue.
AbstractBackgroundThis study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Substance Craving Questionnaire (SCQ-NOW), extended version of the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire ...(CCQ-NOW), defined as a multidimensional measure assessing the craving about cocaine, as conceptualized by Tiffany, Singleton, Haertzen, and Henningfield (1993). Method344 substance addicts (age 38.56 ± 10.63 years old; 20.6% females) took part in the research. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the Italian SCQ-NOW retains good psychometric properties, supporting the conception of substances craving as a multifold concept. ResultsThe internal consistencies were good; correlations between the SCQ-NOW, the Symptom Check List 90 – R (SCL-90-R), and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) were consistent with literature. ConclusionOur findings confirm the application of SCQ-NOW as a psychometric useful measure of the craving in the Italian context, highlighting its validity and reliability. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.
We report a 2-year study of ‘psychological support’ of a group of seven adolescents (five female and two male) with both non-symptomatic generalized and partial epilepsy with onset before puberty. ...Two child neuropsychiatrists, supervised by a Freudian psychoanalyst specializing in group therapy, conducted the sessions.
Sessions were aimed at improving comprehension and acceptance of the condition and its consequences through comparison of thoughts, fantasies, and preoccupations regarding epilepsy, including significance of epileptic seizures and their possible effects on sexuality, pregnancy, mental state, patient resistance to drug therapy, speaking openly about illness, and social and job-related problems. Group dynamics were also examined to improve subject interaction and self-identification. This method varies from the ‘self-help’ type of intervention which uses an interpretative and reflective approach to interaction of group members.
Burnout in volunteer health workers Argentero, P; Bonfiglio, N S; Pasero, R
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia,
2006 Jul-Sep, Letnik:
28, Številka:
3 Suppl 2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
While diverse studies carried out in nursing and medical personnel have demonstrated that health workers can be subject to burnout, little effort has been focused on investigating burnout in ...volunteer hospital workers. The aim of the present study was to verify if burnout exists with volunteer auxiliary personnel and investigate what organizational conditions may favour it. The study was carried out on 80 volunteer workers of the Red Cross of Mortara (PV), subdivided into two categories: those performing emergency interventions and those performing routine services. For the evaluation of burnout, the Italian version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used, together with a qualitative type of methodology. A 5-factor multivariate analysis (sex x shift x team x seniority x role), having as dependent variables the three scales of the MBI, showed that the highest values of depersonalization and fulfillment are found in the emergency team, and that subjects with least seniority are those who are least satisfied or fulfilled. The category of team-leader resulted as that with the highest values of emotional burnout, while sex- and shift-based differences were restricted to routine service workers. Despite these differences, findings showed that subjects are minimally affected by problems linked to burnout, although some relational and organizational difficulties emerged with the medical staff that underlie a certain degree of professional dissatisfaction.
A few authors maintain the characteristics of personality might play an important role in the developing of mobbing, others did not find out any differences personality profiles in subject exposed to ...harassment compared to non-exposed ones. This study assesses, the psychological features of the sample of 276 subjects (114 males, 162females) admitted to a unit of Occupational Medicine, using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI-2. Increase in score over 65 cut off compared to clinical scales was found out: Hypochondria, Depression, Hysteria, Paranoia and compared to content scale: Anxiety and Health concerns. No significant different resulted between males and females as regards clinical scales. To conclude our date confirm the hypothesis of a remarkable psychic discomfort in subjects complaining about harassment work. This discomfort, in compliance with the date of literature seem to be characterized by depression, anxiety and somatizations. However show a tendency to focus on working problems and a disposition to persecutories tendencies. All the above said characteristics might be due to negative working conditions or they reflect a psychological frailty which made the subjects more vulnerable to working stress.
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