With a constantly aging population and a declining labor force, immigration emerges as a fundamental factor for demographic renewal and strengthening of the production system.

Bonifazi and Paparusso propose more effective migration policies and integration strategies that can strengthen the positive contribution of immigrants, fostering greater social cohesion and more sustainable management of human resources.

For more information, please consult the full Report and read the news on the CNEL website.

From the survey conducted by Antonio Tintori, Loredana Cerbara and Giulia Ciancimino, IRPPS, with Maurizio Pompili, UniSapienza, and Gianni Corsetti, ISTAT, the psychological distress that fuels suicidal thoughts does not constitute the origin of the problem, which is instead found in particular dynamics of social interaction and specific socio-demographic characteristics.

The interdisciplinary epistemological approach adopted has also made it possible to show how factors usually considered influential, such as tolerance to the use of alcohol and psychotropic substances in general, are in fact only secondary in explaining the phenomenon.

Read the CNR press release and the article The developmental process of suicidal ideation among adolescents: social and psychological impact from a nation-wide survey.

Media coverage:

La Repubblica

AdnKronos
InSalute News
PanoramaSanità
Radio beckwith evangelica

Over the last five years, access points across the national territory have doubled, increasing from 69 in 2017 to 141 in 2022. The number of men attending them has increased from 1,264 to 4,174, but the proportion of those who access them spontaneously has decreased, in favor of admissions mediated by other local services and the criminal justice system.

This last figure highlights the importance of integrating CUAVs within local anti-violence networks, as well as the need for specialized training for general service practitioners, who can identify perpetrators and promptly refer them to CUAVs, provided they recognize the signs of violence.

→ Read the report

The survey on centers for men who use violence represents the second phase of the Viva project (Evaluation and analysis of interventions to prevent and combat violence against women), which since 2017 has been conducting studies and research aimed at investigating and evaluating policy measures and intervention practices designed to prevent and combat this phenomenon.

Recent news events reiterate that gender-based violence is structural and can only be countered and prevented through profound socio-cultural change. Commitment in this area cannot be limited to November 25.

Media coverage of the survey:
Il Sole 24 Ore, “Red Code effect”: in 5 years, centers for men who use violence double and users quadruple
Il Manifesto, Retaliation and victimhood, identikit of violent men
La Presse, Violence against women, centers for violent men double: 1 in 4 chooses to seek help. Only 8% are ‘ill’
Il Tempo Even those without pathologies can become violent: the study

For those who wish to follow the next steps of the project:

• November 27 – University of Padua – Degree course in Developmental Psychology, presentation by Angela M. Toffanin “Gender-based violence in everyday life relationships”
• December 4 – conference “Present and future of LDV Centers working with men who use violence in Emilia-Romagna: New contexts, new issues, new challenges” in Modena, presentation by Pietro Demurtas titled “The Italian system of interventions aimed at perpetrators of violence”
• December 15 – RFX Consortium conference in Padua, presentation by Angela M. Toffanin titled “Gender-based violence and discrimination: concepts and data”

IRPPS, together with CNR, adheres to Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network of over 500 higher education institutions in 40 countries worldwide, which promotes academic freedom and protects scholars whose lives are in danger or whose work in research, education, and the “third mission” is severely compromised.

SAR sponsors activities related to:

– protection, by creating temporary scholarships for academics requesting protection

– advocacy, to raise awareness in civil and political society regarding cases of attacks on academic freedom in various national contexts

– research and training, on the themes of human rights, academic freedoms, academic refugees, and reception policies for researchers and students.

As part of the training activities and in order to become active within the network, the training course entitled “Guidelines for the reception of scholars at risk,” proposed and organized by the Reception and Training Working Groups of the SAR-Italy Board, is scheduled for November 10, 17, 24 and December 4, 2023. Here is the news on the CNR website with the course references, aimed at management and research staff of the central offices and individual institutes, as well as technical-administrative staff of the individual structures (departments, institutes, laboratories).

Virginia Coda Nunziante, CNR, and Stefano degli Uberti, IRPPS-CNR, are the CNR representatives for the activities that will be promoted within the network.

The experience of SAR Italy is demonstrating the utility of a national network in order to: promote relations with local, national, and international institutions/organizations, also from the perspective of the universities’ third mission; facilitate the exchange of best practices between universities and with civil society networks in the local and national territory, as well as forms of common project planning in the intervention areas indicated above; assist academics at risk during transition phases between different host universities and in their eventual return home. (SAR-Italy).

More than 95% of the 748 respondents report that at least one area of personal life has changed, a percentage that reaches 97% for perceived changes in at least one area of professional life. According to the participants, these are mostly positive impacts.

The objective of the study—conducted in early 2022 by researchers from four CNR Institutes in collaboration with the University of Genoa—was to assess how knowledge workers experienced changes to their work habits after 18 months from the start of pandemic-related restrictive measures. The survey is part of the body of research initiated worldwide, especially during the first lockdowns, on worker well-being.

How smart was working from home during the pandemic?

The research was conducted through an online questionnaire. Among other things, CNR staff were asked to rate from 1 (very negative) to 5 (very positive) the impact of working from home on various areas.

With respect to personal life, the areas that benefited most from working from home were the quality of interpersonal relationships within the family and general lifestyle (including eating habits and health status) with 60% and 58% of “very positive” or “positive” responses, respectively. Working from home does not appear to have impacted sleep quality and friendships (48% and 55% responded “none,” respectively). The most frequent negative impact (20%) was recorded in relation to psychological state. (Details on the responses in Figure 1)

At the professional level, respondents benefited from working from home particularly with respect to flexibility (organization of personal workspace and management of working hours), taking initiative, and quality of work. Three areas in which positive perceptions prevailed over both negative ones and the absence of impact.

Participatory and relational aspects are those in which the perception of no impact prevails. At the same time, however, relationships with colleagues and participation in the work context are those that appear to have been most affected by the different working conditions and that received the highest number of negative responses (27% and 25%, respectively).

This perception was influenced by personal and organizational factors. In particular, a reduced number of days working on-site and a longer home-to-work commute time are associated with a positive perception of the impact of working from home on personal life. Those who reduced their sedentary lifestyle also evaluated the impact of working from home on all areas of personal life as positive. Conversely, having abandoned one’s hobbies and having had to share the room used for work with other household members favor a negative perception.

As the authors of the article emphasize, the results obtained suggest that measures to promote the physical and mental health of employees, strengthen inclusion, and maintain a sense of community are necessary to improve worker health and prevent perceived isolation in research activities when working from home is employed, especially where work-life balance policies are lacking.

Read the full article.

Edited by Monia Torre with scientific contribution by Pierpaolo Mincarone.

Pietro Demurtas and Caterina Peroni have published an article titled “We must draw a different future! Insights from the front line antiviolence work during the pandemic in Italy” in the Open Journal of Sociopolitical Studies “PArtecipazione e COnflitto“.

“In this article we analyze the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Italian anti-violence
system, through the eyes of the practitioners of anti-violence centers, who are historically at the forefront
in supporting women survivors of male violence. Their perspective is particularly relevant because, in Italy,
anti-violence centers hold a “borderline” position, which lies between the political role of transformation and
that of an actor of the private social provider of an ‘essential’ public service. On the basis of international
recommendations, our analysis distinguishes two main areas of intervention on which national policies have
been called to intervene: on one side, the protection of women victims of violence, and on the other their
empowerment. Analyzing either official statistics and data collected through an online survey addressed to
the practitioners of anti-violence centers during the lockdown, we highlight strengths and weaknesses of
the policy measures implemented in Italy from their situated perspective, with reference both to the
protection and the empowerment of survivors.”

The article is published in Open Access and is freely available to read and download.