LIBRI DI MARTA BASSI

Studiare medicina per condividere benessere: una ricerca transculturale in Ciad e in Italia - Studying medicine with the aim of sharing well-being: A cross-cultural research in Chad and in Italy In all countries medical students’ education is considered as highly relevant to community health and well-being. This is especially true of developing countries where health care resources are scarce, and doctors tend to migrate abroad. However, few studies were devoted to the experience medical students associate with learning and to the future goals they pursue. With the aim to delve into these issues, we recruited 34 medical students, 17 in Chad and 17 in Italy. Participants were administered Flow Questionnaire and Life Theme Questionnaire, respectively investigating the quality of their daily experience and the sources of optimal experience a positive and complex state of high concentration and their projects and future goals. Participants from both groups described studying as a complex and de-manding activity. Furthermore, they associated it with optimal experience, with higher frequency among Chadians. However, a clear distinction emerged concerning goal pursuit: while Italian students primarily reported individual goals, Chadians pursued goals mainly related to social commitment. These differences are connected to both the cultural features and the material and economic conditions of the two countries, and thus present specific implications at the motivational level as well as in terms of the professional skills that wouldbe doctors will offer their community. Key words: medical students, learning experience, optimal experience, cross-cultural perspective

At the international level, a new concept of disability is spreading, which considers disability as a way of functioning consisting of biological, psychological and social components. From this perspective and in view of well-being promotion, this study analyzed the quality of experience and goal setting of 50 people with early (N = 25) and acquired (N = 25) motor disabilities, ranging in age between 30 and 40. Particular attention was paid to a specific well-being condition, optimal experience, a positive and complex state associated with activities that are preferentially replicated in time through the process of psychological selection, thus fostering the development of related skills. Through Flow Questionnaire and Life Theme Questionnaire, investigation focused on the activities participants associated with optimal experience and with its antithetic state of apathy or anti-flow, on achievements perceived in present life, and future goals. Results showed that participants’ psychological selection is centered upon some specific areas: work, leisure time, social and family relations, health, and personal life. Participants reported a good level of psychological functioning. They adequately integrated their physical condition in their life and retrieved opportunities for optimal experiences in their daily context. Among the factors hampering personal fulfillment participants reported difficulties in social integration. This aspect requires attentive consideration in order to promote the well-being of people with disabilities.

Il volume raccoglie i contributi di studiosi che oggi in Italia si occupano di psicologia positiva, attraverso programmi di ricerca e di intervento centrati su temi – quali il benessere, l’ottimismo, le esperienze ottimali, l’empowerment, la resilienza, l’auto-determinazione – che da qualche anno suscitano un crescente interesse sia nell’ambito accademico sia in quello professionale. Il benessere viene qui inteso non come soddisfazione di bisogni soggettivi e conseguimento di obiettivi personali, ma come condizione ottimale che scaturisce da un’integrazione armonica tra crescita individuale e sviluppo culturale. Il testo intende offrire una panoramica aggiornata sugli studi e sulle applicazioni in psicologia positiva. Antonella Delle Fave, medico, specialista in psicologia clinica, è professore di psicologia generale presso la Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università di Milano.