Correction: Professional Development of Behavior Analysts in Europe: A Snapshot for 21 Countries.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40617-022-00754-0.].

Framing Effects on Willingness and Perceptions towards COVID-19 Vaccination among University Students in Italy: An Exploratory Study.

Vaccine hesitancy is a diffused psychological phenomenon that has been increasingly addressed in several studies since the COVID-19 pandemic. Communication campaigns play a pivotal role influencing recipients' perceptions and may affect the likelihood to vaccinate or to show hesitancy. In the context of communicating risks during the COVID-19 pandemic, we hypothesized that highlighting different aspects of data on the effectiveness of vaccines would influence people's willingness and attitudes to vaccinate. In this exploratory study, we administered two versions of a survey to a convenience sample of students from three universities in Italy. In the first version, salience was placed on the effectiveness of the vaccine in terms of reducing the probability of infection. In the second version, salience was placed on the effectiveness of the vaccine in terms of reducing the probability of hospitalization after being infected by COVID-19. The results confirmed our hypothesis: participants reported that they were more willing to become vaccinated when exposed to the hospitalization frame (main dimension). Conversely, we found mixed effects of the frame on the following sub-dimensions: reliability, trust, protection, safety, and confidence. Taken together, we show that it is possible to influence, to some extent, university students' attitudes and perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccination by acting on how information is framed. We discuss the implications of these findings for the development of behaviorally informed policies.

The Italian consensus conference on psychological therapies for anxiety and depressive disorders: findings and recommendations.

A Consensus Conference of clinicians, researchers, public health specialists and users was convened in Italy to review efficacy, effectiveness, treatment appropriateness and access to care for anxiety and depression, and to consider the role of psychological therapies. Expert opinion was sought concerning identification of people requiring psychological therapies according to levels of symptom severity matched to corresponding levels of treatment intensity, suitability of psychological therapies for subclinical anxiety or depression, definition of a minimum level of information on evidence-based psychotherapies to be provided by university medical and psychology courses, initiatives to raise awareness among potential users and decision makers on the role and effectiveness of psychological therapies in healthcare. The expert jury concluded that a number of psychological therapy models endorsed by most authoritative guidelines are supported by research showing their effectiveness at least equal to the drugs used in common mental disorders (CMDs). Such therapies are under-represented in the Italian public health system, leading many people to resort to the private sector, resulting in unacceptable wealth discrimination. The difficulty of accessing psychological treatments often entails the use of drug therapies in cases where they are not indicated. Starting from these assumptions, the experts recommended the promotion of better and timely recognition of anxiety and depressive disorders and their classification in terms of symptom intensity and functional impairment, differentiating subthreshold mood swings from clinical forms, to foster outcome studies of psychotherapies in CMDs in Italy, to introduce a stepped care model structured according to levels of intensity of treatment, based on wellbeing support strategies in nonmedical contexts for subthreshold situations, self-help, support and psychoeducation as frontline interventions in mild clinical forms, evidence-based psychotherapies in moderate and severe forms, with the option of combining psychological treatment and appropriate drug therapy in the most severe cases.

Professional Development of Behavior Analysts in Europe: A Snapshot for 21 Countries.

Behavior analysts are not recognized or regulated as a distinct profession in Europe. For the most part, European behavior analysts adhered to the standards set by the U.S.-based Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). However, the BACB certification has not been recognized officially in any European jurisdiction. The recent decision by the BACB to discontinue eligibility of non-U.S. residents to apply for the BCBA exam by the end of 2022 has brought the issue of professional regulation outside of the United States into sharp focus. This article offers a snapshot in time of professional recognition of behavior analysts in 21 European countries. It stems from the Erasmus+ funded EuroBA project and its Professional Advisory Group (PAG). The EuroBA project aims to develop common standards and competences for behavior analysts to facilitate national regulation and mutual recognition across Europe.

The effectiveness of nudging interventions to promote healthy eating choices: A systematic review and an intervention among Italian university students.

Nudges are changes in choice architecture (i.e., the environment in which people make decisions) aiming to steer a person's decision to a particular choice, without restricting alternative options or changing financial incentives. These strategies have been extensively used to promote healthy eating, above all among youths, whose behaviors can still be easily shaped compared to older people's. The current paper describes two studies aiming to investigate the effectiveness of nudging interventions in promoting healthy eating among university students. The first study consisted of a systematic review mapping all the published studies which describe the effectiveness of this kind of intervention worldwide. Twelve eligible records were selected after a search of three different databases. Information about the publication of the record, the adopted research methods and the described intervention was retrieved from each selected record. Based on this review's results, a new nudging intervention was developed to promote healthy food choice among Italian university students. The intervention aimed to modify students' choice for each of the Italian meal courses: first course (pasta, rice or soup), second course (meat, fish, cheese or cured meat), side dish, bread, and fruit. An Italian university cafeteria was observed in two phases: a pre-intervention phase (baseline) and a post-intervention phase (nudging strategies were implemented in the cafeteria's architecture). The applied nudging intervention was effective in promoting healthy choices in relation to the second course, the side dish, and the bread, but it did not significantly affect choices related to the first course or the fruit. Implications of these results and suggestions for future interventions are discussed.

The Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Improving Psychological Well-Being in Parents of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been demonstrated as effective in improving psychological well-being in several clinical domains, but there is no evidence regarding the parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of the ACT matrix behavioral protocol in comparison to the Parent Training (PT) program, measuring several primary and secondary outcomes prior to and following treatments. Twelve parents were randomly and equally assigned to two demographically matched groups wherein individuals underwent 24 weekly meetings of ACT protocol (experimental group) or conventional PT (control group). RESULTS: Parents enrolled in the ACT protocol demonstrated significant improvement in psychological flexibility, awareness states, personal values in everyday life, and parental stress, whereas reduced scores were elicited in parents' perceptions of their child's disruptive behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this randomized controlled trial, if repeated with a large number of subjects, could open the way to include ACT protocols in daily practice to support the development of new parenting skills.

Acute Stress Response Profiles in Health Workers Facing SARS-CoV-2.

OBJECTIVE: The study is an explorative investigation aimed to assess the differences in acute stress response patterns of health workers facing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during Italy's first lockdown. METHODS: A cross-sectional investigation using convenience sampling method was conducted in Italy during April 2020. Eight hundred fifty-eight health workers participated in the research filling out self-report measures including Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). RESULTS: Moderate/severe depression was found in 28.9% (95% CI, 25.8-32.04), moderate/severe anxiety in 55.4% (95% CI, 51.9-58.8), insomnia in 15% (95% CI, 12.5-17.5), and distress in 52.5% (95% CI, 48.5%-56.6) of participants. The 3% of health workers reported frequent suicidal thoughts. Female sex, working for >15 h/week in a COVID-19 unit, and living apart from family were associated with a significantly higher risk of distress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, and functional impairment. Four profiles were identified on the basis of psychopathological measures: Profile_0 included 44% (N = 270); Profile_1, 25.6% (N = 157); Profile_2, 19.1% (N = 117); and Profile_3, 11.3% (N = 69) of participants. Results showed a significant effect for Profiles X IES-R (η2 = 0.079; f = 0.29), indicating that in all profiles, except for Profile_0, avoidance scale is lower than hyperarousal and intrusion symptoms scales of the IES-R. This characteristic could be a probable index of the control exerted by the responders to not fly away from their job. CONCLUSION: The identification of specific profiles could help psychiatrists and emergency psychologists to build specific interventions in terms of both primary and secondary prevention to face future waves of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Increased Classroom Consumption of Home-Provided Fruits and Vegetables for Normal and Overweight Children: Results of the Food Dudes Program in Italy.

OBJECTIVE: To increase classroom consumption of home-provided fruits (F) and vegetables (V) in obese, overweight, and normal weight children. DESIGN: Consumption evaluated within and across the baseline phase and the end of the intervention and maintenance phases. SETTING: Three Italian primary schools. PARTICIPANTS: The study involved 672 children (321 male and 329 female) aged 5-11 years. Body mass index measures were available for 461 children. INTERVENTION: Intervention schools received the Food Dudes (FD) program: 16 days of repeated taste exposure (40 g of F and 40 g of V), video modeling, and rewards-based techniques. The comparison school was only repeatedly exposed to FV. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Grams of FV brought from home and eaten. ANALYSIS: Chi-square, independent t test, repeated-measures ANOVA, and generalized estimating equation model. RESULTS: Intervention schools show a significant increase in home-provided F (P < .001) and V (P < .001) consumption both in overweight and non-overweight children. Approximately half of children in the intervention schools ate at least 1 portion of FV at the end of the intervention and maintenance phases. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The increase in home-provided FV intake was similar in overweight and non-overweight children in the FD intervention schools compared with the comparison school. The effect of the FD program was higher at the end of the intervention phase than the end of the maintenance phase.

Intentional change, intrinsic motivations, and goal generation.

Wilson et al. draw our attention to the problem of a science of intentional change. We stress the connection between their approach and existing paradigms for learning and goal generation that have been developed in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and psychology. These paradigms outline the structural principles of a domain-general and teleologically open agent.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): the foundation of the therapeutic model and an overview of its contribution to the treatment of patients with chronic physical diseases.

Nowadays, treatment of chronic illnesses, such as stroke, cancer, chronic heart and respiratory diseases, osteoarthritis, diabetes, and so forth, account for the largest part of expenses in western countries national health systems. Moreover, these diseases are by far the leading causes of mortality in the world, representing 60% of all deaths. Any treatment aimed at targeting them might engage an individual for a large portion of his/her life so that personal and environmental factors can play a crucial role in modulating the person's quality of life and functioning, on top of any medical cure. Anxiety, depression, and distress for examples are not rare in patients with chronic diseases. Therefore, Cognitive and Behavior Therapy research has largely contributed in the last decades in identifying and programming interventions on such aspects as real and perceived social and family support, coping abilities, locus of control, self-efficacy that might help patients living with their chronic disease. More recently, third generation Cognitive-Behavior-Therapies, such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) and Acceptance, and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focused their attention and research efforts on developing intervention models targeting the needs of patients with a chronic disease. This paper has three aims. First is to briefly introduce ACT epistemological (Functional Contextualism) and theoretical (Relational Frame Theory) foundations as a stand point for understanding the peculiarity of ACT as a modern form of Clinical Behavior Analysis. The second aim is to introduce ACT clinical model and its six core processes (acceptance, defusion, present moment, self as a context, values and committed action) as both accountable, in their continuum, for psychological flexibility and inflexibility. Third, to present a brief overview of studies and outcomes of ACT intervention protocols and assessment tools that have been investigated in patients with chronic physical diseases, and namely: diabetes, obesity, epilepsy, and chronic pain.