Giulia Balboni

Università degli Studi di Perugia | UNIPG · Department of Human and Education Sciences

This article describes how rights, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the quality of life (QOL) framework are closely interrelated. Although legislation can be used as a tool for the practical application of QOL principles, QOL assessment information is required to further develop legislation and monitor the fulfillment of...

The Sense of Community, as an important construct that supports students’ participation and deep learning, has two dimensions: Social Community and Learning Community. Peer feedback is an instructional strategy employed in higher education to encourage students to assume an active role in their learning activity. The present study investigates the...

Neurodevelopmental disorders are a cluster of mental disorders with neurobiological origins that occur during the development of children and lead to cognitive deficits with possible behavioral and emotional consequences. Intensive and individualized interventions are required to take action on these deficits timely. Recently, telerehabilitation te...

Unlabelled: The present study investigated the effects of the first COVID-19 lockdown on the Cultural and Social Capitals in Italy in a large group of adults (n = 1125). The relationships between the COVID-19 spread and participants' Cultural Capital, Social Capital, educational level, occupational prestige, and age were studied using structural e...

In recent decades, research in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities has targeted self‐determination and quality of life constructs. Quality of life has been extensively studied within various theoretical frameworks. It has been used to guide the provision of appropriate support in daily life. In addition, a vast body of scientif...

Quality of life (QoL) has been extensively studied within the field of intellectual disability, with various theoretical frameworks being developed to guide the provision of appropriate supports in daily life. However, the role that self-determination can play in the QoL of adolescents with intellectual disability has received little attention. Thi...

L'approccio "transdiagnostico" ai disturbi del neuro- sviluppo può favorire la ricerca e la comunicazione, ma è privo di teoria. Senza un modello teorico l'identificazione delle cause dei disturbi cognitivi e comportamentali, andando oltre la loro descrizione e categorizzazione, è impossibile. Un primo passo verso il cambiamento è il superamento de...

Abstract: Background: Assessing self-determination in students with intellectual disabilities (IDs) is a primary step in facilitating progress monitoring. Researchers have developed both self and proxy assessments to favor a more in-depth evaluation of self-determination expression. However, to date, limited research has explored the congruence bet...

Background: Incomplete knowledge and unfamiliarity with intellectual disability (ID) contribute to erroneous assumptions of physicians towards ID, which negatively impact the health equity of people with ID. This study aimed to identify the erroneous assumptions that, based on the ID stakeholders' perceptions, were the most prevalent in physicians...

Background: Developmental disabilities are disproportionately more investigated in higher-income countries. However, global prevalence of developmental disabilities indicate that a large proportion of individuals with disabilities reside in low- and middle-income nations. Aims: The present work therefore aims to conduct a scientometric review to...

The Sense of Community (SC) in the university context relates to academic achievement, social participation , and well-being. One of the most common tools to measure student SC in the university context is the Classroom Community Scale (CCS), consisting of two subscales: Connectedness and Learning. This 2-factor structure has not been confirmed in...

Social Capital refers to the resources associated with durable and trustworthy social connections. Social Capital can be developed through offline and online relationships. It can be distinguished between cognitive Social Capital (perception of trustworthiness, reciprocity, and support) and structural Social Capital (density of social networks and...

Background: Reaction time is affected under different neurological conditions but has not been much investigated considering all types of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Objective: This study investigated the diagnostic accuracy of CompCog, a computerized cognitive screening battery focusing on reaction time measurements. Methods: A sample of...

Purpose: A contribution to the Italian adaptation of the original English version of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 for children and youth (WHODAS-Child), proxy-administered among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability. Materials and methods: Observational and retrospective...

Background: The Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS) is a short scale with excellent properties to assess the conceptual, social, and practical adaptive behavior domains for the diagnosis of intellectual disability (ID) in individuals aged 4–21 years. Aims: Investigate the test-retest and inter-respondent reliability of the Italian adaptation...

Purpose/objective: Although the concept of quality of life (QoL) has become a reference framework for the provision of support and services to people with intellectual disability (ID), its conceptualization and application for persons with Down syndrome (DS) have received little attention. This study analyzed QoL outcomes in children and young peo...

Raw data regarding the study on contribution to the Italian adaptation of the original English version of the WHODAS 2.0 for children and youth (WHODAS–Child), proxy-administered among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability.

Background: Sociocultural level (SCL) comprises Socioeconomic Status (SES), Cultural Capital (CC), and Social Capital (SC). The relationships between all SCL dimensions have never been investigated. This study aimed to develop a structural equation model representing how age affects the relationships between educational level, occupational prestig...

Although the availability of the computer-based assessment has increased over the years, neuropsychology has not carried out a significant paradigm shift since the personal computer's popularization in the 1980s. To keep up with the technological advances of healthcare and neuroscience in general, more efforts must be made in the field of clinical...

Background: Attitudes of physicians toward intellectual disability (ID) impact access and quality of the health care services provided to individuals with ID. Attitudes are conceptualized as composed of cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. However, research on attitudes toward ID frequently neglects to define the underlying theoretical...

The capacity of the Child Behavior Checklist 1½–5 (CBCL 1½–5) to identify children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 18 months was tested on 37 children clinically referred for ASD and 46 children at elevated likelihood of developing ASD due to having an affected brother/sister. At 30 months the clinically referred children all received a conf...

Background: Toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show higher prevalence and severity of Behavioral and Emotional Problems (BEP) than their peers without ASD. Aims: Investigating the effects of parental factors, i.e., mothers’ and fathers’ age and Sociocultural Level (Socioeconomic Status, Cultural Capital, and Social Capital), and individu...

The effects of environmental factors [including Socio-Economic Status, Cultural Capital, and Social Capital (Socio-Cultural Level) of both parents] on the Vineland-II adaptive behavior dimensions of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in addition to individual factors, was investigated in 148 Italian toddlers (82% males), aged 18 to 37 mo...

Communicating to the scientific community and disseminating to society are two different activities that must be studied and learned. Students should understand that scientific research and properly communicating its results have an essentially ethical purpose, namely to acquire and disseminate knowledge that enables people to choose and act freely...

This study aimed to identify the assumptions toward intellectual disability that are considered to be commonly held by physicians and damaging for the health care of adults with intellectual disability.

Quarantine derived from COVID-19 pandemic has challenged children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families daily life and routines. Because of these children unique needs related to manage uncertainty and overcoming situations, an in-depth approach to how they navigated through quarantine urged to better comprehend the...

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) encompass a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental disorders resulting from the complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Thanks to the chromosome microarray analysis (CMA) in clinical practice, the accurate identification and characterization of submicroscopic deletions/duplications (copy num...

The attitudes of teachers toward intellectual disability (ID) contribute to an effective school inclusion of students with ID, thereby enhancing their quality of life. The present study was aimed at investigating the attitude differences toward ID of mainstream and special-education teachers in Italy and the general and specific teachers' character...

Previous studies have reported an inverse relationship between adaptive behavior and challenging behaviors in individuals with ID. However, it is unclear which characteristics might influence this relationship in individuals with ID and co-occurring conditions. We found a positive correlation between adaptive behavior (Vineland-II) and challenging...

This study showed the relevance of environmental factors (i.e. parents’ socio-cultural level), as well as individual factors (i.e. age, development level, autistic symptomatology and challenging behaviors), in influencing the adaptive behavior of toddlers with low-functioning autism. These findings appear useful to plan individualized interventions...

Background: The Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF) allows for the assessment of frequency and severity of challenging behaviours of individuals with ID with one combined rating. However, frequency and severity rating of challenging behaviours may be in disagreement. Therefore, the efficacy of frequency and severity independent ratings for...

Background. This study evaluated the role of adaptive behaviour, individual variables (age, gender and problem behaviours) and environmental variables (living arrangements, employment status and city dimension) in affecting the quality of life of individuals with IDD measured from third‐party (caregiver) and individuals with IDD' perspective. Metho...

Aims: Bladder and bowel dysfunction (BBD) have been recognized in children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but no consistent information exist in adults with the condition. We evaluated the prevalence of BBD and the impact of psychiatric and behavioural profiles in adults affected by ASD. Methods: Twenty-two adults and 13 children/te...

Cultural capital refers to the knowledge and use of cultural codes that are relevant in the community wherein people live. A valid scale to measure all the dimensions of cultural capital is not available. In this paper, exploratory, confirmatory, and multigroup confirmatory factor analyses were performed using independent samples of adults to selec...

Background We present the work conducted to arrive at deriving behavioural indicators that could be used to guide clinical judgement in determining the presence and severity of deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour for the purpose of making a diagnosis of disorders of intellectual development. Methods An interdisciplinary exp...

Recently, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning researchers have become interested in the notion of scripting and assigning roles to students enrolled in online courses, in order to increase their engagement in collaborative activities. This study aimed to investigate whether assigning a role called social tutor to a student enrolled in an onli...

Background Criminal defendants may often exaggerate psychiatric symptoms either to appear non-accountable for their actions or to mitigate their imprisonment. Several psychometric tests have been proposed to detect malingering. These instruments are often validated by Simulation Design (SD) protocols, where normal participants are explicitly reques...

Raw data The individual scores obtained by participants on NIM, SIMS, MMPI_2 and SDCL-90-R tests. Participants are listed only by the experimental group they belong to. Variable labels are self-explanatory (see text).

Creating a sense of community in online classes contributes to student retention and to their overall satisfaction with the course itself. This study aimed to develop a scale of sense of community of students attending online university courses. A series of ordinal exploratory factor analyses were conducted on data obtained from 839 students enroll...

Children with ASD have difficulties engaging in reciprocal shared behavior and communication. AT could be helpful in supporting them to make progress in these areas. This chapter provided an overview of scientific literature on treatments for children with ASD using AT published in the last 15 years. Priority was given to recent and reviewed papers...

This study investigated the prevalence and type of gastrointestinal (GI) and food selectivity (FS) symptoms in 163 preschoolers with ASD, and their possible links with core ASD features and emotional/behavioural problems. 40.5% of children with ASD had at least one severe GI symptom or FS. Preschoolers with and without GI symptoms and with and with...

Negli ultimi anni, il costrutto di Qualità della Vita (QdV) ha conseguito un considerevole rilievo nell’ambito della Disabilità Intellettiva (DI) fino ad essere un criterio fondamentale nella pianificazione di interventi individualizzati efficaci e nell’organizzazione di servizi di qualità (ad es., Gómez, Verdugo, Arias, Navas e Schalock, 2013; Sch...

Environmental (e.g., socio-cultural context), individual (e.g., genetic makeup), and interpersonal (e.g., caregiver–children relationships) factors can play a crucial role in shaping the development of the teenagers’ personality. In this study, we focused on the Socio-Cultural Level that designates the set of preferences, knowledge and behaviors th...

Background: The evaluation of adaptive behavior is informative in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or specific learning disorders (SLD). However, the few investigations available have focused only on the gross level of domains of adaptive behavior. Aims: To investigate which item subsets of the Vineland-II can discri...

On behalf of the International Test Commission and the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations a world-wide survey on the opinions of professional psychologists on testing practices was carried out. The main objective of this study was to collect data for a better understanding of the state of psychological testing worldwide. These data...

The Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS) was developed using item response theory (IRT) methods and was constructed to provide the most precise and valid adaptive behavior information at or near the cutoff point of making a decision regarding a diagnosis of intellectual disability. The DABS initial item pool consisted of 260 items. Using IRT m...

The studies on the effects of Socio-Cultural Level (SCL) on the Big Five personality factors have always considered the Socio-Economic Status but not the Cultural Capital (CC) and Social Capital (CS). In the present investigation, for the first time, we have studied the effects of all the dimensions of LSC on personality of 121 women and 106 men, l...

Background: The Diagnostic Adaptive Behaviour Scale (DABS) is a new standardised adaptive behaviour measure that provides information for evaluating limitations in adaptive behaviour for the purpose of determining a diagnosis of intellectual disability. This article presents validity evidence and reliability data for the DABS. Method: Validity e...

Community Scale (CCS; Rovai, 2002) misura il Senso di Comunità in contesti scolastici. Tale scala, tradotta in lingua italiana da Fiorenzani, Cacciamani e Balboni (2008), è stata modificata da Perrucci e Cacciamani per adattarla al contesto universitario. Obiettivo del presente lavoro è verificarne validità convergente e divergente. Per la verifica...

Paper presented at the European Conference of Psychology-Milan, july 8th 2015

We investigated which item subsets of the Vineland-II can discriminate low-functioning preschoolers with ASD from matched peers with other neurodevelopmental disorders, using a regression analysis derived from a normative sample to account for cognitive and linguistic competencies. At variance with the typical profile, a pattern with Communication...

Generally, to evaluate the social-cultural level (SCL) of a child and an adult, the educational level, occupational status, and income of the participant or of all members of the family are measured. However, SCL is a more general construct involving also cultural capital (CC) and social capital. CC concerns the knowledge of cultural codes that are...

We investigated which item subsets of the Vineland-II can discriminate low-functioning preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from matched peers with other neurodevelopmental disorders, using a regression analysis derived from a normative sample to account for cognitive and linguistic competencies. At variance with the typical profile, a...

Background: Although previous studies indicated a positive association between restrictive anorexia-nervosa (AN-R) and autistic traits, the potential interference of psychiatric internalizing comorbidity on this association is not yet fully investigated. Materials and methods: The aim of this study was to explore autistic traits and internalizing p...

The construct of Quality of Life (QoL) has recently gained greater relevance in the field of Intellectual Disability (ID) and it is now a key criterion for program planning and evaluation, and for the managerial and policy decisions of organizations providing services for individuals with ID. Although there is general agreement on the main properti...

The construct of Quality of Life (QoL) has recently gained greater relevance in the field of Intellectual Disability (ID) and it is now a key criterion for program planning and evaluation, and for the managerial and policy decisions of organizations providing services for individuals with ID. Although there is general agreement on the main properti...

The Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS) was constructed with items across three domains — Conceptual, Social, and Practical adaptive skills — and normed on a representative sample of American individuals from 4 to 21 years of age. The DABS was developed to focus its assessment around the decision point for determining the presence or absence...

In online courses, Sense of Community (SC) affects the quality of students’ learning and satisfaction. Nevertheless, there are no tools that allow to measure the dimensions of the main SC reference model proposed by McMillan and Chavis (1986) in online courses. For this purpose, the Scale of Sense of Community in online University Courses (SSCC) (P...

Background: Few studies have deeply examined the question of whether parents’ stress levels affect their children’s progress in intervention. If by one side the research underlines the negative impact of the parent stress on outcome of children, another bulk of evidence pleads in favour of a different trend in parental stress with high parental s...

Background: A growing, but conflicting body of literature suggests altered empathic abilities in subjects with anorexia nervosa-restricting type (AN-R). This study aims to characterize the cognitive and affective empathic profiles of adolescents with purely AN-R. Methods: As part of a standardized clinical and research protocol, the Interpersonal R...

This article updates the current conceptualization, measurement, and use of the adaptive behavior construct. Major sections of the article address an understanding of the construct, the current approaches to its measurement, four assessment issues and challenges related to the use of adaptive behavior information for the diagnosis of intellectual d...

Sense of community (SC) refers to the perception of similarity and strong interdependence with others, and the feeling of being a member of a stable group. In online courses, the SC is decisive for the academic success and the satisfaction of students. According to the McMillan and Chavis model, the SC made up of four dimensions: (1) Membership (de...

In online courses, Sense of Community (SC) affects the quality of student learning. Nevertheless, few valid tools are available to measure it. For this purpose, the Scale of Sense of Community in online Courses (SSCC) has been developed according to McMillan and Chavis model. Internal consistency and convergent/discriminant validity of the scale we...

Very often the diagnostic process provides only a descriptive label of the disorder. A useful diagnosis must reach the precise description and the functional interpretation of the deficits shown by a given individual. To this aim, four separate but intertwined steps are required: (1) clinical interview to collect personal and clinical anamnesis and...

The concurrent and predictive validities of the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) and Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) were investigated in a large group of Italian third-and fifth-grade students with different sociocultural levels evaluated at the beginning and end of the school year. CPM and NNAT scores were related to math and rea...

All major diagnostic systems define ID as the presence of significant deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour that originates during the developmental period. The assessment of intellectual functioning, albeit not without some debate, has a long and well established history of research and development. The assessment of adaptive...

The sense of community in online courses may contribute to the success and the satisfaction of all the students and the integration of the students with disabilities. Therefore, a valid scale to assess sense of community must be used. For this purpose, a questionnaire for the evaluation of all the dimensions of the MacMillan and Chavis (1986) sense...

Performances in psychological tests are frequently influenced by the socio-cultural level (SCL). Therefore, valid strategies to assess SCL must be used. Dimensions of SCL are presented (socio-economic status, cultural capital, and social capital) and available strategies for their assessment are described. Problems in the SCL evaluation and their e...