This study aimed to investigate defence mechanisms and personality characteristics in obese subjects. In particular, we compared the use of defence mechanisms in two groups: obese persons vs. normal weight subjects. We also compared the defence mechanisms and personality characteristics of two groups of obese subjects: those with Binge Eating Disorder vs. those without this disorder. Finally, we investigated the presence of possible differences linked to gender or to age of onset of obesity.93 obese subjects and 68 normal weight subjects were administered a test battery composed of the following self-complete questionnaires (in the Italian version): Binge Eating Scale, Response Evaluation Measure-71, Eating Disorder Inventory-2 and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory).Obese subjects appear to use specific defence mechanisms. A gender effect was found on the use of defence mechanisms, on the psychological characteristics associated to an Eating Disorder and on personality features. Obese subjects with Binge Eating Disorder showed a marked tendency to manifest anxiety and bulimic behaviour. Obesity with onset in adolescence was associated with the possibility of developing drug dependence.Specific defence characteristics and personality features in obese subjects should be taken into account in designing a slimming program.
Impulsiveness as a multidimensional construct: an analysis in alcoholic patients. Impulsiveness is multifactorial in nature; hence, to investigate its components diverse theoretical models supported by different measurement tools have been proposed. Attention has been particularly focused on the effects that impulsiveness can have in determining and/or mantaining a behaviour of dependence. In the present study a group of subjects with alcohol dependence in treatment (N=20) were compared with a control group (N=21); the two groups were administered three different instruments designed to investigate the dimension of impulsiveness. A significant defference was found concerning the performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. This is a test that simulates a gambling situation and so evaluates the capacity to discern, in a decisional task, advantageous vs. non-advantageous options, where the former permit an immediate modest gain but also a future modest loss while the latter carry a heavier penalty than they allow to gain, even if the gains are very big. The alcoholics persisted in making impulsive choices significantly more than the control group, prefering thus the higher wins but risking also greater losses. This result, in line with what is reported by the present contributions on the decisional style of subjects characterized by drug abuse, may be important in understanding the factors that predispose to and maintain excessive drinking behaviour.
Many papers report and convey positive opinion about the use of e-learning in the healthcare sector. The issue is how to exploit at best such a powerful instrument. Starting from data regarding the usage of a CME e-learning course, attendance dynamics and users' behaviour have been inspected with the aim of getting some hints about how to improve the development and the delivery of e-learning courses for CME, and to promote knowledge acquisition at best. The different paths followed by 7811 users have been modeled, from enrolment to conclusion/drop-out, then the behaviour in terms of effort, elapsed time, achieved result have been analyzed. The obtained results point out: good acceptance (retention rate 83%) of a not basic educational model and effectiveness (success rate 79%). At the same time the inspection of behaviour has shown that there is a good margin of possible improvement in terms of knowledge acquisition. Conclusions provide a list of issues to keep in mind during system development, in order to provide CME e-learning meeting both credit and knowledge acquisition goals.
the quality of health-related information available for general public on the web has been widely debated, often expressing concern, in the last few years, but also other mass media supply medical contents for health consumer.To evaluate the quality of information available by the Italian people through Internet in comparison with the one published on the press with a high circulation. A general interest topic such as over-weight and obesity has been identified as a convenient field for the comparison.A sample of web sites and articles have been collected--excluding the promotional ones- in order to compare their completeness and correctness. National guidelines were the golden standard. For the web sites, the availability of indications to let the user know the reliability of the site--we will refer to these as "transparency"--has been evaluated through 9 parameters.45 informative sites and 35 articles have been found: the Italian population has a good chance of getting information. Web sites are much more complete than articles. Correctness of both is quite good. Transparency of web sites leaves much to desire, independently from the quality of the content.There is probably an excessive confidence about the transparency and caution of articles in dealing with health-related topics.The web publishers must necessarily be educated to apply the existing good practice rules, but in the meantime also the press with a high circulation, that is read by a high percentage of people, has to improve its quality in order to co-operate in supplying adequate information. In general, from the traditional exceptionalist approach for medical information on the internet, a definition of media quality standard could be derived.
The paper describes the results of an e-learning experimental project for Continuous Medical Education (CME) in Occupational Medicine in terms of: extent of the e-learning courses usage by the healthcare personnel, knowledge acquisition and satisfaction. 11 courses have been available for 11 months during which 2,034 users all over Italy enrolled in 5,183 courses with a success percentage of 72% and a significant difference between test scores performed before and after attending the e-learning courses. Also user's satisfaction, inspected through a questionnaire, has provided good results. Starting from the experience reported, the authors are confident that e-learning will gain ground and evolve as an effective and appreciated educational mean for CME.
