Managing the Consequences of Oncological Major Surgery: A Short- and Medium-Term Skills Assessment Proposal for Patient and Caregiver through M.A.D.I.T. Methodology

Intervening on Global Emergencies: The Value of Human Interactions for People's Health

Literature about global emergencies and their impact on people's health underlines the need to improve the social cohesion of human community and the availability of tools to support people and foster community interactions. This paper illustrates research aimed at describing and measuring human interactions in the Veneto community and its changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. 50,000 text occurrences from social media and newspapers about these topics were analyzed between December 2021 and January 2022. People present themselves as members of different teams, pursuing conflicting aims, and attributing the decision-making responsibility of emergencies management exclusively to governments, without considering themselves as active parts of the community. This delegation process on citizens' behalf can affect their health: by taking minor responsibility in handling the repercussions of these events on the community and by arguing over the most effective way to deal with them, they risk freezing and waiting for action by third parties, thus leaving mutual interactions and the promotion of their own health at a standstill. Local institutions can use these data to shape prevention policies to manage the community's emergencies and use them as opportunities to promote public health.

Healthy Even through Cancer: What Are the Assumptions and Outcomes for Psychological Intervention?

Cancer remains a highly fatal disease, a major cause of mortality and a huge health burden around the world, requiring increased primary prevention efforts, screenings and treatments [...].

What Are They Gonna Think About Me? An Innovative Text Analysis on Social Anxiety and Taijin Kyofusho Through MADIT Methodology

Meaning and translation are never-ending issues that constantly challenge researchers who work in cross-cultural settings, especially when the focus is on how people use language to express and interact in relation to their distress experiences. Many efforts have been undertaken in order to try to understand and manage the content variance that can emerge from context and linguistic differences. The present study aims at offering its contribution on this topic by presenting MADIT methodology, an innovative textual analysis that focuses on the processual use of language. Using the theoretical references of Dialogic Science, language is analysed as an interactive process, leading the researchers to observe the modalities through which language is used (the how) instead of the different contents brought by speakers (the what). After discussing the theoretical differences between content and processual analysis, we present MADIT methodology through a comparative explorative study on the discursive production about taijin kyofusho and social anxiety in Japanese and Italian contexts. The results pointed out how, going beyond the content differences and focusing on the processual interactive reality generated through language, it is possible to observe cross-cultural similarities in the use of language to shape distress experiences.

Critical Competences for the Management of Post-Operative Course in Patients with Digestive Tract Cancer: The Contribution of MADIT Methodology for a Nine-Month Longitudinal Study

There is a high postoperative morbidity rate after cancer surgery, that impairs patients’ self-management, job condition and economic strength. This paper describes the results of a peculiar psychological intervention on patients undergoing surgery for esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer. The intervention aimed to enhance patients’ competences in the management of postoperative daily life. A narrative approach (M.A.D.I.T.—Methodology for the Analysis of Computerised Text Data) was used to create a questionnaire, Health and Employment after Gastro-Intestinal Surgery—Dialogical Questionnaire, HEAGIS-DQ, that assesses four competences. It was administered to 48 participants. Results were used as guidance for specific intervention, structured on patients’ competence profiles. The intervention lasted nine months after surgery and was structured in weekly to monthly therapeutic sessions. Quality of Life questionnaires were administered too. At the end of the intervention, 94% of patients maintained their job and only 10% of patients asked for financial support. The mean self-perception of health-related quality of life was 71.2. The distribution of three of four competences increased after nine months (p < 0.05). Despite economic difficulties due to lasting symptoms after surgery, and to the current pandemic scenario, a structured intervention with patients let them to resume their jobs and continue activities after surgery.