RESUMEN
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant long-term impact on education worldwide. In many countries, schools and universities experienced a rapid switch to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL), which affected many education systems in the 2020-21 school year. This was true for the Italian educational context as a whole, including School in Hospital (SiHo) services. This study explored how the SiHo functioned in Italy during the 2020-2021 school year. The aim was to explore what, if any, changes the emergency brought about in educational practices and in the adoption of technologies in this specific context, with a particular focus on any differences between school levels. The study was conducted with 252 SiHo teachers using a questionnaire format. The results showed that after the forced adoption of distance modes during the spring 2020, face-to-face teaching returned to be the prevalent mode in the 2020-2021 school year, with some exceptions for upper-secondary school students (covered by ministerial provisions). The teaching approach that SiHO teachers prefer, both for face-to-face and distance lessons, remains frontal instruction, probably given the particular needs of their students. Younger students probably experienced the most significant changes due to the limits imposed on interpersonal contact in hospitals, which prevented group work and play, previously commonly adopted by kindergarten and primary school teachers. In terms of technology integration in educational practice, teachers stated that they had acquired greater competence in the use of a variety of technological resources.
RESUMEN
The abrupt interruption of face-to-face educational activities imposed by the Italian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic required a rapid switch to distance learning to guarantee continuity in education. The same applied to the School-in-Hospital (SiHo) services. This paper explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in this specific context; we investigated the organizational changes and strategies adopted by the SiHo services and individual teachers to meet the challenges posed by this change in the educational paradigm. Moreover, the paper outlines teachers' visions about possible educational scenarios for the next academic year (2020-2021). Using qualitative methodology, the study took the form of a group interview involving 12 teachers working across 8 children's hospitals in Italy. The thematic analysis revealed a number of themes for further investigation. In terms of the actual situation during the pandemic, we identified critical issues and facilitating factors that occurred in distance learning with hospitalized students. One significant theme that emerged from the interviewees' narratives involved their general attitudes towards distance learning and their individual approaches to the pandemic. The relationship of hospitalized students to mainstream schools also proved to be an important theme, not only regarding the recent past but also the future. Finally, teachers hypothesized future distance learning scenarios for the new school year, highlighting the challenges to be faced from several viewpoints (methodological, organizational, technological, etc.).
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To provide an objective way to analyze handwriting, and to test its reliability and correlation with mental deterioration. Handwriting may give clues to the cognitive status of the writer, thus its analysis might be helpful, for example, in the forensic evaluation of a controversial handwritten last will. DESIGN: We devised a semiquantitative score system taking into account verbal and lexical skills and spatial orientation. We investigated its inter-rater reliability and its correlation with validated tests of neuropsychological status, such the Milan Overall Dementia Assessment (MODA) and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). SETTING: The neuropsychology service of an academic hospital. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive patients referred to the service for evaluation of mental deterioration. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The score system we devised has good inter-rater reliability and significantly correlates with MODA and with MMSE. CONCLUSIONS: Semiquantitative analysis of handwriting may be a useful addition to the methods available for the posthumous evaluation of testamentary capacity.