Mirian Agus

• MD, PhD
• Technician at Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially impacted the management of chronic conditions, particularly endometriosis. This study aims to analyze the effects of the pandemic on the quality of life among women with endometriosis under the care of an academic referral center in Italy. Methods Conducted from June to October 2020, this observ...

The present study aimed to evaluate the multivariate relationships between variables related to burnout and job stress in healthcare workers, evaluating whether the relationships between these dimensions, the variables related to personal factors (age, seniority of service), and work–family balance factors (overwork related to unused vacation days...

The present study aimed to evaluate the multivariate relationships between variables related to burnout and job stress in healthcare workers, evaluating if the relationship between these dimensions, the variables related to personal factors (age, seniority of service), and work–family balance factors (overwork related to unused vacation days, accum...

The process of school digitalisation has been on the rise in recent years, but the relationship between technology and teachers has had a strong acceleration during the global pandemic due to the coronavirus disease 2019. 198 teachers from primary to high school fill a questionnaire about demographic variables (age, gender, education level, school...

THE «ROBOTICS INTEREST QUESTIONNAIRE» (RIQ): A TOOL TO DETECT FACTORS UNDERLYING ROBOTICS TEACHING Abstract The growing interest of the scientific and educational community in Educational Robotics (ER) is linked to the need to develop digital skills and computational thinking in the younger generation. Through ER it is possible to train multiple co...

Internet use can have both positive and negative impacts. Above all, risks are linked to immoderate use among adolescents. The importance of parental control over their children’s internet use is a key element in limiting the risk factors that such use may have. We investigated this perception by administering a self-report questionnaire to 236 Ita...

Healthcare workers’ stress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, whose mid-term negative effects are still present. The aim of this work was to consider the effects of burnout (psychophysical exhaustion, relational deterioration, and professional inefficacy) on the career satisfaction of healthcare workers. Th...

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the occurrence of psychological disturbances, such as depressive and anxiety symptomatology, thereby significantly impacting individuals' lifestyles by disrupting sleep patterns. This study aimed to elucidate the interconnections between emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and daytime sleepin...

Healthcare workers' stress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, whose mid-term negative effects are still present. The aim of this study was to investigate in healthcare workers the effect of the dimensions of burnout (Psychophysical exhaustion, Relational deterioration, and Professional inefficacy) on Career...

In recent years, numerous research studies have highlighted how teachers’ perceptions of educational robotics (ER) and their sense of self-efficacy can influence the learning process. Although different instruments exist to investigate teachers’ perspectives on ER, the Robotics Interest Questionnaire (RIQ) scale, developed within the Portuguese K–1...

This work aimed to validate the use of the Smartphone Distraction Scale (SDS) in Italy. The SDS was devised to assess distraction related to smartphone use in adult populations. A cross-sectional study was conducted among n = 609 adults (females = 76.4%; mean age = 30.26; SD age = 9.90). An assessment of the factorial structure of the Italian versi...

Long-term unemployment has major consequences from an economic, physical and psychosocial perspective. Several authors have pointed out that the search for employment is in itself work, which can generate feelings of exhaustion of psychophysical energies, cynicism and disinvestment, as well as a sense of ineffectiveness to the point of complete dis...

Well-being is a multidimensional construct that affects various areas of a person’s life. In the university context, a student’s well-being can influence not only their academic and professional success but also the future development of society. This study aimed to evaluate how the interactions of time perspective (assessed by the Stanford Time Pe...

Background Search for work is in itself a job and its outcomes are similar to those of job burnout: it can generate feelings of exhaustion, detachment from the commitment to research, and a sense of ineffectiveness. The aim of the present study is to investigate the construct of burnout within the category of long-term unemployed people engaged in...

The Mobile Phone Problematic Use Scale (MPPUS) is a self-report measure developed to identify the problematic use of mobile phones (PSU) among adults. The purpose of this study was to create an Italian version. A sample of 568 Italian adults completed the MPPUS, presented in association with another validated scale for the assessment of smartphone...

Introduction In the literature, no integrated definition of sexual harassment (SH) occurs but there is clear unanimity about SH being offensive, humiliating, and intimidating behavior. Within academic settings, SH has severe negative effects on students' physical or emotional wellbeing as well as on their ability to succeed academically. Methods T...

Background: Changes in social and behavioral rhythms (SBR) in elderly are related to health status. Nevertheless, there is no data on factor analysis of the Brief Social Rhythm Scale (BSRS) an internationally well-known tool in this field. The aim was to analyze, in elderly, the factorial structure of the Italian version of BSRS. Design and Methods...

Background The use of a substance is always accompanied by a motivation that pushes the subject to use and abuse the substance. This work reports the validation data of the MUS (Motivation to Use Substance), which measures and evaluates the motivation to use substances based on the dimension of resistance, confidence, pleasure, and relaxation. Met...

Endometriosis impairs the quality of life (QoL) of many women, including their social relationships, daily activity, productivity at work, and family planning. The aim of this review was to determine the instruments used to examine QoL in previous clinical studies of endometriosis and to evaluate the effect of medical and surgical interventions for...

In this paper, we report on the findings of our exploratory research investigating how the similarity or difference of the partners’ love styles could be related to dyadic and familial satisfaction. The empirical literature outlines how love styles are differently associated with various couple dimensions. While most studies employ an individual ap...

The continuous transformation of the labor market, characterized by great instability and uncertainty, and by rapid technological changes, has strongly influenced the construction and management of career paths. Nowadays, individuals are faced with careers that are fluid and boundaryless, characterized by discontinuity and a variety of organization...

The aim of this research was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers, particularly on their self-esteem and self-efficacy, their difficulty in the transition to distance learning, the difficulty of students, and specially of students with learning disabilities (LDs students), as perceived by teachers. 226 teachers were invite...

In the literature there are more and more works dealing with cyberbullying and adolescents’ perception of this phenomenon. In particular, we are interested in cyberbullying and the effects of cyberbullying on adolescent life. What is more, in 2020 the impact of COVID-19 has increased the digital presence of cyberbullying behaviours. This phenomenon...

The present study describes the semantic nature of burnout and engagement in the operators involved in the management of illegal immigration. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on a sample of Italian practitioners (n = 62) of the two levels of the reception system considered: (1) rescue and first aid and (2) reception and integration. Within...

The development of numerical abilities was examined in 73 pupils. Children were divided into five groups: four experimental groups, plus a control group. The experimental groups received different psychoeducational treatments (pencil-and-paper mathematical training: n = 14; computerized mathematical training: n = 15; combined pencil-and-paper visuo...

This study aimed to evaluate which aspects of moral disengagement (MD), empathy, and representations of the victim’s experience (VER) could be predictors of cyberbullying (CB). One hundred and eight-nine students (11–17 years old) completed 3 self-report questionnaires: An MD scale, an empathy scale, and a CB questionnaire. In relation to the perso...

Cognitive flexibility (CF) is a fundamental human ability to adjust cognitive processing strategies to deal with new and unpredicted situations. In this sense, using valid and theoretically grounded measures of cognitive flexibility is critical. A new measure of CF, the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, has recently been validated. This measure comp...

Illegal immigration throughout the Mediterranean Sea is an intense and epoch-making phenomenon. This quantitative and qualitative study, based on the framework of the JD-R Model of burnout, described and assessed the risk of burnout among practitioners working in the reception system for illegal immigrants. A sample of Italian practitioners complet...

This study emphasizes the importance of analyzing factors that contribute to student well-being, as a result of the multiplicity of factors that can affect their quality of life (QoL). The literature indicates that, among these factors, emotional intelligence and self-regulation play a central role in influencing adolescents’ psychological and scho...

We present a comparison between Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal to test the cross-cultural validity of the Differentiation of Self Inventory Revised scales Emotional Cut-Off and Emotional Reactivity. Our study had the aims of focusing on the importance of in-depth analyses of the differentiation of self-constructs from a cross-cultural perspecti...

This paper reports some experiments on probabilistic reasoning designed to investigate the impact of the probabilistic problem presentation format (verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial) on subjects’ confidence in the correctness of their performance, other than the calibration between confidence and accuracy. To understand the potential effect...

Bowen's multigenerational theory provides an account of how the internalization of experiences within the family of origin promotes development of the ability to maintain a distinct self whilst also making intimate connections with others. Differentiated people can maintain their I-position in intimate relationships. They can remain calm in conflic...

Autoimmune disease mainly affects women in their reproductive years and has a significant impact on childbearing. Pregnancy can induce an improvement of the mother’s symptomatology in some diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis while exacerbating or having no effect on other autoimmune diseases as multiple sclerosis (Borchers et al., 2010). This unc...

Bowen and colleagues argued through their clinical observations that psychological distress is a result of low levels of differentiation of self. Starting from these premises, the main objective of the present investigation was to compare a normative sample and a sample of adults seeking services at a systemic therapy clinic. Initially, we assessed...

A cross-national comparison between Italy and Spain was conducted on probabilistic reasoning performance presented in verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats. This study investigated the similarities and differences in Psychology undergraduates in these two countries (Italy n=290; Spain n=130) and attempted to identify aspects that might e...

Background: This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Substance Craving Questionnaire (SCQ-NOW), extended version of the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire (CCQ-NOW), defined as a multidimensional measure assessing the craving about cocaine, as conceptualized by Tiffany, Singleton, Haertzen, and Henningfield (1993)....

While research has traditionally analysed negative aspects of the work and family relationship by embracing a reductionist approach, over the past 20 years a number of studies have also focused on positive aspects. Our studies set out to validate the Italian version of the instrument developed by Kinnunen and cols. with a sample of 707 employees. P...

This study aims to make a preliminary evaluation of the psychometric features of the Italian version of the Love Attitudes Scale: Short Form (LAS; Hendrick, Hendrick & Dicke, 1998), which is one of the most commonly used measurements of love in literature. Our results confirmed the six-factor structure and its convergent validity with several affec...

This study analyzes if motivation, academic self-concept, perception of the time perspective, self-regulation, and the attendance of specific online laboratory activities influence academic retention and achievement of two group of freshmen attending the first year of their Bachelor’s Degree. The freshmen were monitored along their first academic y...

There are many unresolved issues concerning both the conceptual and practical aspects of measurement in the field of psychology. This situation persists despite its long-standing and fundamental role in the activities of the majority of psychologists and despite intense scientific enquiry. These issues concern, essentially, the role of qualitative...

The aim of this study was to verify the efficacy of two pencil-and-paper trainings empowering numerical and visuo-spatial abilities in Italian five-year-old kindergarteners. Specifically, the trainings were respectively carried out by the curricular teacher or by an external trainer. The former received a specific training in order to use the psych...

Many studies have investigated the features of probabilistic reasoning developed in relation to different formats of problem presentation, showing that it is affected by various individual and contextual factors. Incomplete understanding of the identity and role of these factors may explain the inconsistent evidence concerning the effect of problem...

Research on the graphical facilitation of probabilistic reasoning has been characterised by the effort expended to identify valid assessment tools. The authors developed an assessment instrument to compare reasoning performances when problems were presented in verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats. A sample of undergraduate psychology st...

The purpose of this study was to understand the role played by several individual and contextual variables in accounting for the subjects' performance in probabilistic reasoning problems, presented in verbal–numerical and graphical–pictorial formats, respectively. Structural equation models linking these variables were proposed. Three samples of ps...

Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects women of reproductive age. Chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and dyspareunia are its main symptoms; pain alters the quality of life of the patient and affects her health. Since pain is a highly subjective experience, the purpose of this study is to assess the sensory component of pain perception in e...

A body of literature evidences the importance of enhancement in the development of mathematical abilities. The most recent researches showed that infants are capable of discriminating different sets of numbers, so it is important to understand the role of the environment and educational system in the promotion and development of this potential. The...

A body of literature shows the significant role of visual-spatial skills played in the improvement of mathematical skills in the primary school. The main goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of a combined visuo-spatial and mathematical training on the improvement of mathematical skills in 146 second graders of several schools loc...

The aim of this study was to verify whether fiveyear-old children (attending the last year of kindergarten) could have different enhancements to their abilities to accomplish two homologous trainings on numerical intelligence: pencil-and-paper format and computerized format. We have evaluated the effects of two types of training, observing that bot...

This study aims to investigate about the existence of a graphical facilitation effect on probabilistic reasoning. Measures of undergraduates' performances on problems presented in both verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats have been related to visuo-spatial and numerical prerequisites, to statistical anxiety, to attitudes towards statist...

Objectives: We evaluated sexual function, quality of life and perceived body image of women with deep endometriosis in comparison to that of healthy women. Methods: The sample consisted of 41 women with deep endometriosis and 40 healthy women without endometriosis. Sexual, psychological and pain evaluation were performed. Results: The study evidenc...

Tale ricerca nasce con l’obiettivo di indagare l’effetto di un potenziamento cognitivo attraverso un programma combinato multimediale e/o cartaceo di arricchimento dell’intelligenza numerica e/o delle abilità visuo-spaziali in bambini frequentanti la seconda classe di una scuola primaria di Cagliari (n=96). Al pre e post-test sono state rilevate l...

Numerous studies have examined students' difficulties in understanding some notions related to statistical problems. Some authors observed that the presentation of distinct visual representations could increase statistical reasoning, supporting the principle of graphical facilitation. But other researchers disagree with this viewpoint, emphasising...

Many students have difficulties in the appreciation of concepts related to statistical problems. Various researches have determined how students’ aptitude to solve statistical proofs can be affected by the methods of displaying data. The application of distinct visual aids could improve statistical reasoning, sustaining the principle of graphical f...

The study here presented aims to investigate the links between quality of family relationships and some prodromes in eating disorders. A sample of 1,083 subjects took part in the study by filling PBI, FACES and EDI questionnaires. In order to clarify the role played by family relationships in the onset of EDs, two subgroups (high risk–low risk) wer...

The aim of the present research was to investigate the effect of cross-cultural and age-related factors on self-referent metacognitive efficiency, psychological well-being, and mnestic performance in late adulthood. Ninety-three healthy adults recruited in individualistic northwest Italian and collectivistic Sardinian contexts were respectively ass...

The communication of uncertain and certain information is essential for individual behaviour and decision making. But many subjects have difficulty in understanding uncertainty-related problems. This difficulty can depend on the way in which materials are presented and communicated: for example, whether this is verbalnumerical or graphical. We meas...

Many students struggle with understanding concepts related to statistical problems. A body of studies has stated that the attitude of undergraduates when resolving statistical problems can be affected by problem displaying methods. Our paper reports on the development of novel and accessible problems designed to compare the basic processes of stati...

Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate the presence of alexithymia in a group of patients with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain, and compare the results obtained, with those for a group of healthy controls. Methods Forty-one patients with pain and surgical diagnosis of deep endometriosis and 40 healthy controls were recruited for the...

The main purpose of current research was to investigate the impact of self-rated metacognitive measures and depressive symptoms in predicting psychological well-being in differently aged healthy adults. Moreover, current research was aimed to explore the effect of genre and age on metacognition and depression scores. Ninety-six healthy adults were...

Numerous subjects have trouble in understanding various conceptions connected to statistical problems. Research reports how students' ability to solve problems (including statistical problems) can be influenced by exhibiting proofs. In this work we aim to contrive an original and easy instrument able to assess statistical reasoning on uncertainty a...

The main purpose of current research was to investigate the impact of self-rated metacognitive measures and depressive symptoms in predicting psychological well-being in different aged healthy adults. A further goal was to explore the effect of genre and age on metacognition and depression scores. Ninety-six healthy adults were, respectively, assig...

Many students have difficulty in grasping several concepts that are related to the solution of statistical problems. The bibliography reports how the ability of students to solve problems can be affected by the mode of the statistical problem presentation: verbal–numeri-cal and pictorial–graphical. The dual-coding theory predicts that the graphical...