Trust matters: The Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Europe Study.

This article presents the design of a seven-country study focusing on childhood vaccines, Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Europe (VAX-TRUST), developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study consists of (a) situation analysis of vaccine hesitancy (examination of individual, socio-demographic and macro-level factors of vaccine hesitancy and analysis of media coverage on vaccines and vaccination and (b) participant observation and in-depth interviews of healthcare professionals and vaccine-hesitant parents. These analyses were used to design interventions aimed at increasing awareness on the complexity of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare professionals involved in discussing childhood vaccines with parents. We present the selection of countries and regions, the conceptual basis of the study, details of the data collection and the process of designing and evaluating the interventions, as well as the potential impact of the study. Laying out our research design serves as an example of how to translate complex public health issues into social scientific study and methods.

Recruiting a Hard-to-Reach, Hidden and Vulnerable Population: The Methodological and Practical Pitfalls of Researching Vaccine-Hesitant Parents.

While recruitment is an essential aspect of any research project, its challenges are rarely acknowledged. We intend to address this gap by discussing the challenges to the participation of vaccine-hesitant parents defined here as a hard-to-reach, hidden and vulnerable population drawing on extensive empirical qualitative evidence from seven European countries. The difficulties in reaching vaccine-hesitant parents were very much related to issues concerning trust, as there appears to be a growing distrust in experts, which is extended to the work developed by researchers and their funding bodies. These difficulties have been accentuated by the public debate around COVID-19 vaccination, as it seems to have increased parents' hesitancy to participate. Findings from recruiting 167 vaccine-hesitant parents in seven European countries suggest that reflexive and sensible recruitment approaches should be developed.

The making and unmaking of Hashimoto's thyroiditis: On the mismatch between illness and disease. Results from an Italian study.

The diagnostic process in contemporary medical practice is increasingly technical, specialised and relying on population-based ranges of biological normalcy. Disease is defined according to a hierarchy of evidence that privileges specialist knowledge and marginalises subjective experiences of illness. Medical and individual definitions of the situation can conflict in two ways: (i) a diagnosis is made in the absence of symptoms, (ii) individual suffering does not constitute 'real' disease if it is not validated by scientific evidence. This article investigates how the discrepancy between specialist and embodied knowledge is experienced and tentatively solved by patients' self-narratives. Starting from the analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with people affected by autoimmune diseases, we focus on the subgroup affected by Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Applying the most-different-systems design, we confront two flesh-and-blood ideal-types of illness narratives characterised by a mismatch between illness and disease. Their diagnostic trajectories are outlined and discussed as poles of a continuum of experiences resulting from different configurations of medical evidence of disease and subjective evidence of illness.

Social support networks of users of crack cocaine and the role of a Brazilian health program for people living on the street: A qualitative study.

This cross-sectional qualitative study analyzed characteristics of social support for users of crack cocaine and the role of "Consultório na Rua" (CR), or "Office in the Street," a Brazilian program for people living on the street. Data were collected using 1) ethnographic field observations during the delivery of services from this program, 2) in-depth interviews with 17 users of crack cocaine, and 3) a focus group with professionals from CR. To analyze data, we used content analysis and analytical categories based on Social Network Analysis (SNA) theoretical statements. Results showed that family, peers, community members, and professionals from CR were the main social support providers. Participants mentioned receiving material, informational, and emotional support from CR members. It was observed that CR had a welcoming and inclusive approach, but CR team members identified challenges related to stigma directed toward people who use substances and live on the street. CR assumed a central role in the health and social assistance of users of crack cocaine living on the street, providing an important link to healthcare and social services. However, initiatives related to motivation to receive mental health services, treatment, or social reintegration were not observed in conjunction with this program.

Política de saúde mental brasileira: uma análise a partir do pensamento de Franco Basaglia / Política brasileña de salud mental: un análisis basado el pensamiento de Franco Basaglia / Brazilian mental health policy: an analysis based on Franco Basaglia thought

Objetivo: analisar a política pública de saúde mental brasileira à luz do pensamento de Franco Basaglia. Método: estudo qualitativo, que utiliza análise documental de relatórios das conferências nacionais de saúde mental, da legislação brasileira relacionada à saúde e das principais portarias relativas à área de saúde mental até 2019. Resultados: o pensamento de Basaglia acerca da extinção dos manicômios e da criação de novos serviços territoriais de cuidado de saúde mental foram estímulos importantes na construção política e na organização dos serviços territoriais, substitutivos ao manicômio, no Brasil. Neste período, a reforma psiquiátrica brasileira tem enfrentado desafios, mas também tem produzido importantes avanços na implantação de uma ampla rede de serviços territoriais, apesar de ainda não ter extinguido os manicômios. Conclusões:a análise permitiu reafirmar os pontos de força alcançados até aqui, bem como avançar na crítica e no redimensionamento de horizontes da política de saúde mental brasileira.(AU)

Objective: to analyze Brazilian public policy in the light of Franco Basaglia's thinking. Method: qualitative study, which uses documentary analysis of reports from national mental health conferences, Brazilian legislation related to health and the main ordinances related to the mental health area until 2019. Results: Basaglia's thought about the extinction of asylums and the creation of new territorial mental health care services, were important stimuli in the political construction and organization of territorial services, replacing the asylum, in Brazil. During this period, the Brazilian psychiatric reform has faced challenges, but it has also produced important advances in the implantation of a wide network of territorial services, although it has not yet extinguished asylums. Conclusions: based on the analysis, it was possible to reaffirm the strength points reached so far, as well as to advance in the criticism and in the resizing of horizons of the Brazilian mental health policy.(AU)

Objetivo: analizar la política pública brasileña a la luz del pensamiento de Franco Basaglia. Método: estudio cualitativo, con análisis documental de informes de congresos nacionales de salud mental, legislación brasileña y las principales ordenanzas relacionadas con el área de salud mental hasta 2019. Resultados: pensamiento de Basaglia sobre la extinción de los asilos y la creación de nuevos servicios territoriales de salud mental, fueron estímulos importantes en la construcción política y organización de los servicios territoriales, en sustitución del asilo, en Brasil. Durante este período, la reforma psiquiátrica brasileña ha enfrentado desafíos, pero también ha producido importantes avances en la implantación de una amplia red de servicios territoriales, aunque aún no ha extinguido los asilos. Conclusiones: a partir del análisis, fue posible reafirmar los puntos de fuerza alcanzados hasta el momento, así como avanzar en la crítica y en el redimensionamiento de horizontes de la política brasileña de salud mental.(AU)

Cotidiano como eixo de intervenção em saúde mental / The daily practices as key in mental health intervention

RESUMO Objetivo Analisar as práticas cotidianas de um serviço de saúde mental do norte da Itália. Método Pesquisa qualitativa, cuja coleta de dados foi proveniente do trabalho de campo etnográfico em um serviço de saúde no período entre 2015 e 2016. Foram observadas as atividades diárias e realizadas oito entrevistas em profundidade com os profissionais desse serviço. O material empírico foi submetido à técnica de análise de conteúdo de Cardano. Resultados Percebeu-se que essas práticas permitem a cada indivíduo desempenhar uma diversidade de papéis no drama social, quando inseridos em um território existencial e apoiados numa prática ética, estética e política. Conclusões e implicações para a prática Por meio dessa clínica territorializada, observou-se a substituição de conceitos orientadores do cuidado para uma "invenção de saúde" em ato, marcada pela ousadia de criar espaços de cena para a expressão das múltiplas versões do eu.

ABSTRACT Objective analyze the daily practices of a mental health service in northern Italy. Method Qualitative research whose data collection came from ethnographic field work in a health service between 2015 and 2016. The daily activities were observed, and eight in-depth interviews with the professionals of this service were performed. The empirical material was submitted to Cardano´s content analysis technique. Results it was noticed that these practices allow each individual to perform a diversity of roles in a social drama, when they are inserted in an existential territory and supported by an ethical, aesthetical and political practice. Conclusions and implications for practice through this territorialized clinic, it was observed the replacement of guiding concepts of care for a "health invention", which was marked by the boldness of creating spaces for the expression of multiple versions of the self.

Técnica da entrevista discursiva em pesquisa qualitativa: relato de experiência / Técnica de entrevista discursiva en investigación cualitativa: informe de experiencia / Discursive interview technique in qualitative research: experience report

Objetivo: descrever uma experiência de estudo, reflexão e prática de realização da entrevista discursiva. Método: consiste num relato de experiência sobre o desenvolvimento e prática da técnica de entrevista discursiva, realizada entre setembro e dezembro de 2019, durante a disciplina de Metodi Qualitativi per la ricerca sociale, na Università degli Studi di Torino, na Itália. Foram aplicadas três entrevistas discursivas aos integrantes de uma associação ítalo-brasileira, utilizando uma amostragem valanga (técnica da bola de neve). Resultados: apresentam as etapas que antecedem a realização da entrevista discursiva, como o contato com o campo de pesquisa e com o tema que foi pesquisado, a elaboração do roteiro para entrevista, sua execução e sua transcrição. Conclusão: a entrevista discursiva é uma técnica que permite a compreensão da ação dos participantes e do seu contexto social. Por não aplicar questões predeterminadas, valoriza o que emerge no processo de integração.

Objective: to describe an experience of study, reflection and practice of conducting the discursive interview. Method: experience report on the development and practice of the discursive interview technique, carried out between September and December 2019, during the discipline of Metodi Qualitativi per la ricerca sociale, at the Università degli Studi di Torino, in Italy. Three discursive interviews were applied to the members of an Italian-Brazilian association, using a valanga sampling (snowball technique). Results: the steps that precede the discursive interview were presented, such as contact with the research field and with the theme that was researched, the elaboration of the interview guide, its execution and its transcription. Conclusion: the discursive interview is a technique that allows the understanding of the action of the participants and their social context. By not applying predetermined questions, it values what emerges in the integration process.

Objetivo: describir una experiencia de estudio, reflexión y práctica de realización de la entrevista discursiva. Método: consiste en un informe de experiencia sobre el desarrollo y la práctica de la técnica de entrevista discursiva, realizado entre septiembre y diciembre de 2019, durante la disciplina de Metodi Qualitativi per la ricerca sociale, en la Università degli Studi di Torino, en Italia. Se aplicaron tres entrevistas discursivas a los miembros de una asociación ítalo-brasileña, utilizando un muestreo valanga (técnica bola de nieve). Resultados: presentan los pasos que preceden a la entrevista discursiva, como el contacto con el campo de la investigación y con el tema que se investigó, la elaboración de la guía para la entrevista, su ejecución y su transcripción. Conclusión: la entrevista discursiva es una técnica que permite comprender la acción de los participantes y su contexto social. Al no aplicar preguntas predeterminadas, valora lo que surge en el proceso de integración.

Diálogo aberto: pontos críticos da implementação no cuidado à crise psicótica / Open dialogue: critical points of implementation in psychotic crisis care

Resumo O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar os pontos críticos para a implementação da abordagem do diálogo aberto na atenção à crise psicótica. Trata-se de estudo qualitativo, utilizando os formulários preenchidos por profissionais de saúde mental que participaram de um seminário sobre a temática, realizado por Jaakko Seikkula em 2015, na Itália. Foram analisados 83 formulários com questões abertas autoaplicadas para detectar o perfil sociodemográfico dos participantes, convidando-os a indicar os pontos críticos da implementação do diálogo aberto. Os resultados foram organizados a partir dos sete princípios da abordagem e analisados segundo o conceito weberiano de tipo ideal de criticidade, sendo dispostos em dois tipos ideais: o organizacional e o cultural. Na percepção dos participantes a transferência dessa modalidade terapêutica para a Itália não parece livre de obstáculos. Os princípios de maior preocupação entre os profissionais enfermeiros e médicos foram: ajuda imediata, rede social, flexibilidade e mobilidade. Diante disso, reflete-se sobre os impasses perante a necessidade de mudar concepções, organizações, saberes e práticas de cuidado em saúde mental comunitária no contexto da desinstitucionalização.

Abstract This study sought to analyze the critical points to implement the Open Dialogue approach in psychotic crisis care. This qualitative study was based on the analysis of an open-ended questionnaire developed by mental health professionals who participated in a seminar on the subject conducted by Jaakko Seikkula in 2015, in Italy. Eighty-three self-administered questionnaires were analyzed to detect the participants' sociodemographic profile and their perception of the critical points of the implementation of Open Dialogue. The results were organized according to the seven principles of the approach and analyzed according to Weber's Ideal Type into two Ideal Types: organizational and cultural criticalities. In the participants' perception, the implementation in Italy of this therapeutic modality does not seem obstacle-free. The principles of greatest concern among nurses and physicians were immediate help, social networking, flexibility, and mobility. This paper thus reflected on the impasses regarding the need for a reframing in the conceptions, organizations, knowledge and practices of community mental health care in the context of deinstitutionalization.

[Open Dialogue and the Challenges for its Implementation - an analysis based on a review of the literature]. / O diálogo aberto e os desafios para sua implementação ­ análise a partir da revisão da literatura.

METHOD: The Open Dialogue Method was developed in Finland in order to deal with severe psychotic crises using dialogue and social network inclusion. By means of a review of the literature on the Open Dialogue Method, this article sought to identify the principles and contributions for deinstitutionalization.The PubMed (365), PsycInfo (134), Lilacs (no articles found) databases and 2 books were consulted. Thirty-four publications that fulfilled the requirements of this review were selected. The search was conducted in October 2015. The key words used were: open dialogue, crisis, first psychotic episode, schizophrenia, family therapy, need-adapted approach. RESULTS: There were 3 reviews, 5 theoretical studies, 21 qualitative studies and 5 quantitative studies. Two of them were written in Italian, one in French and thirty-one in English. The authors were from Norway, the United States, Finland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada and Poland. The publications were grouped for purposes of analysis into the following categories: Open Dialogue concepts and principles; Open Dialogue contributions; Challenges for Open Dialogue implementation in other countries, realities and contexts.

MÉTODO: O Método Diálogo Aberto foi desenvolvido na Finlândia para atender crises psíquicas graves utilizando diálogo e inclusão da rede social. Este artigo pretende, através de uma revisão da literatura sobre o Método do Diálogo Aberto, identificar seus princípios e contribuições para processos de desisntitucionalização. As bases utilizadas neste artigo de revisão foram: PubMed (365), PsycInfo (134) e Lilacs (nehuma publicação encontrada), além de 2 livros, incluídos por referência cruzada. Foram selecionadas 34 publicações que atendiam ao objetivo proposto. A busca foi realizada em outubro de 2015. Os descritores selecionados foram: open dialogue, crisis, first episode psycosis, schizophrenia, terapy family, need adapted approach. RESULTADOS: Foram encontrados 3 artigos de revisão, 5 estudos teóricos, 21 estudos qualitativos e 5 estudos quantitativos. Destes, 2 foram escritos em italiano, 1 em francês e 31 em inglês. Com relação ao país de origem dos autores temos: Noruega, Estados Unidos, Finlândia, Austrália, Reino Unido, Bélgica, Canadá e Polônia. As produções foram agrupadas para análise em: Concepções e princípios do Diálogo Aberto; Contribuições do diálogo Aberto; Desafios para implementação do Diálogo Aberto em outros países, realidades e contextos.

O diálogo aberto e os desafios para sua implementação - análise a partir da revisão da literatura / Open Dialogue and the Challenges for its Implementation - an analysis based on a review of the literature

Resumo O Método Diálogo Aberto foi desenvolvido na Finlândia para atender crises psíquicas graves utilizando diálogo e inclusão da rede social. Este artigo pretende, através de uma revisão da literatura sobre o Método do Diálogo Aberto, identificar seus princípios e contribuições para processos de desisntitucionalização. Método: As bases utilizadas neste artigo de revisão foram: PubMed (365), PsycInfo (134) e Lilacs (nehuma publicação encontrada), além de 2 livros, incluídos por referência cruzada. Foram selecionadas 34 publicações que atendiam ao objetivo proposto. A busca foi realizada em outubro de 2015. Os descritores selecionados foram: open dialogue, crisis, first episode psycosis, schizophrenia, terapy family, need adapted approach. Resultados: Foram encontrados 3 artigos de revisão, 5 estudos teóricos, 21 estudos qualitativos e 5 estudos quantitativos. Destes, 2 foram escritos em italiano, 1 em francês e 31 em inglês. Com relação ao país de origem dos autores temos: Noruega, Estados Unidos, Finlândia, Austrália, Reino Unido, Bélgica, Canadá e Polônia. As produções foram agrupadas para análise em: Concepções e princípios do Diálogo Aberto; Contribuições do diálogo Aberto; Desafios para implementação do Diálogo Aberto em outros países, realidades e contextos.

Abstract The Open Dialogue Method was developed in Finland in order to deal with severe psychotic crises using dialogue and social network inclusion. By means of a review of the literature on the Open Dialogue Method, this article sought to identify the principles and contributions for deinstitutionalization. Method: The PubMed (365), PsycInfo (134), Lilacs (no articles found) databases and 2 books were consulted. Thirty-four publications that fulfilled the requirements of this review were selected. The search was conducted in October 2015. The key words used were: open dialogue, crisis, first psychotic episode, schizophrenia, family therapy, need-adapted approach. Results: There were 3 reviews, 5 theoretical studies, 21 qualitative studies and 5 quantitative studies. Two of them were written in Italian, one in French and thirty-one in English. The authors were from Norway, the United States, Finland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada and Poland. The publications were grouped for purposes of analysis into the following categories: Open Dialogue concepts and principles; Open Dialogue contributions; Challenges for Open Dialogue implementation in other countries, realities and contexts.

Internal migration and mental health of the second generation. The case of Turin in the age of the Italian economic miracle.

Until the first half of the '50s, Italy was an underdeveloped and mainly agricultural country. From the second half of the '50s to the late '70s, Italy was the theatre of a massive economic and social transformation which placed the country among the most developed economies in Europe. During those years, more than four million poor peasants migrated from the most economically depressed areas of the South to the North-West of the country. Turin was one of the preferred destinations of this exodus. It was this huge army of low-cost workers which made the economic miracle possible. This exodus has many traits in common with the more recent international migration, and can - by analogy - give a sense of where the latter may lead. This study analyzes the impact of these experiences on the mental health of individuals whose childhood was spent in Turin during the economic miracle, focusing on the most severe mental distress: psychosis. The data used for this purpose combine the results of a qualitative secondary analysis and a large archive of data which derives from the Turin Longitudinal Study (TLS). The study's main finding is that the offspring of Southern migrants are at a higher relative risk of psychosis (RR 1.61), compared to the "natives". It seems that the offspring of migrants have paid the price of their parents' migration project with the impairment of their own mental health.

Grupos de ouvidores de vozes: estratégias e enfrentamentos

RESUMO O objetivo deste artigo é discutir as estratégias utilizadas por diferentes grupos de pessoas que ouvem vozes, para o enfrentamento de tal experiência. Trata-se de um estudo etnográfico realizado junto a grupos italianos de ouvidores de vozes. Os dados, que foram obtidos no período entre outubro de 2014 e janeiro de 2016, através da observação participante, com registros em diários de campo, demonstram que estratégias de enfrentamento em espaço grupal, tais como o diálogo com as vozes, a busca de informação e a escrita sobre as mesmas são importantes para a superação das dificuldades decorrentes dessa vivência e estimulam o protagonismo daqueles que as ouvem.

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to discuss the strategies used by different groups of people who hear voices, to cope with such experience. This is an ethnographic study carried out with italian groups of voice listeners. The data, that were obtained in the period between October 2014 and January 2016, through participant observation, with records in field diaries, demonstrate that coping strategies in group space, such as dialogue with the voices, the search for information and writing about them are important to overcome difficulties arising from this experience and stimulates the protagonism of those who hear them.

Diálogo Aberto: a experiência finlandesa e suas contribuições / Open Dialogue: the finnish experience and its contributions

RESUMO O Diálogo Aberto é um método desenvolvido na década de 1980, na Finlândia, para o enfrentamento da crise psicótica. Este artigo é um ensaio teórico que tem como objetivo apresentar o Diálogo Aberto em seus princípios e enquanto prática de saúde mental desinstitucionalizante, enfatizando seu potencial terapêutico, seus resultados e suas contribuições para outros países. Conclui-se que, para a implementação do Diálogo Aberto em outros contextos, é necessária uma mudança organizativa na estruturação dos serviços e uma substantiva mudança cultural no interior da equipe e da comunidade.

ABSTRACT The Open Dialogue is a method developed in the 80's, in Finland, to the confrontation of the psychotic crisis. This article is a theoretical essay that aims to present the Open Dialogue in its principles and as a deinstitutionalizing mental health practice, emphasizing its therapeutic potency, results and contributions for other countries. It is concluded that, for the implementation of the Open Dialogue in other contexts, it is necessary an organizational change in the structuring of services and a substantive cultural change within the team and the community.

Workplace stress and prescription of antidepressant medications: a prospective study on a sample of Italian workers.

PURPOSE: The main aim of this study was to examine prospectively the relationship between antidepressant prescriptions (ADP), as a proxy of depressive symptoms, and work-related stress, measured according to the demand-control model. METHODS: A cohort of 2,046 union workers who participated in a survey on working conditions and health in 1999-2000 was followed up to 2005, through the Regional Drug Prescription Register, for an ADP. The relative risks associated with demand, control and job strain were estimated using Poisson regression, adjusting for age, sex and other workplace factors (shift work, overtime, loud noise and psychological violence). RESULTS: In final multivariable models, high demand significantly increased the risk of depressive symptoms among blue collars (RR = 1.82), whereas among white collars, it was significantly protective (RR = 0.38). No significant relationship was found for job control or strain in either occupational class. CONCLUSIONS: The direct association observed elsewhere among blue collars between depressive symptoms and demand was confirmed, but not for job control or job strain. It cannot be ruled out that the association with demand was at least in part determined by reverse causation, due to exposure over-reporting among subjects with subclinical depressive symptoms at baseline. The protective effect of demand among white collars is not consistent with the literature and may be attributable to the particular characteristics of this sample, which included mainly workers employed in public administrative positions.

Mental distress: strategies of sense-making.

The irruption of severe mental distress into the life of an individual determines a deep biographical disruption. To cope with this crisis, individuals are involved in a laborious sense-making activity, through the composition of narratives intended to create a new link between past, present and future. This essay analyses the sense-making strategies that follow this dramatic experience through the comparison of four illness narratives composed by Italian participants. The narratives are selected from a broader textual corpus in a way that authorizes their connotation as 'flesh and blood' ideal types. These narratives illustrate three kinds of explanation for the outset of mental distress: the biomedical adopted by Vito; the spiritual-religious adopted by Marta; and the psycho-social adopted by Giacomo. Vito, Marta and Giacomo are still inside the story they are telling, and compose the events by observing them through the eyes of a patient, qualifying their diversity as a stigma. The fourth narrative is different, composed by Serena, a 'voices hearer' who comes to terms with her voices not by silencing them with drugs, but by accepting them as a charisma that has transformed her into a medium and, on final analysis, a balanced woman.

Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries.

BACKGROUND: Changes over time in inequalities in self-reported health are studied for increasingly more countries, but a comprehensive overview encompassing several countries is still lacking. The general aim of this article is to determine whether inequalities in self-assessed health in 10 European countries showed a general tendency either to increase or to decrease between the 1980s and the 1990s and whether trends varied among countries. METHODS: Data were obtained from nationally representative interview surveys held in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, The Netherlands, West Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain. The proportion of respondents with self-assessed health less than 'good' was measured in relation to educational level and income level. Inequalities were measured by means of age-standardized prevalence rates and odds ratios (ORs). RESULTS: Socioeconomic inequalities in self-assessed health showed a high degree of stability in European countries. For all countries together, the ORs comparing low with high educational levels remained stable for men (2.61 in the 1980s and 2.54 in the 1990s) but increased slightly for women (from 2.48 to 2.70). The ORs comparing extreme income quintiles increased from 3.13 to 3.37 for men and from 2.43 to 2.86 for women. Increases could be demonstrated most clearly for Italian and Spanish men and women, and for Dutch women, whereas inequalities in health in the Nordic countries showed no tendency to increase. CONCLUSIONS: The results underscore the persistent nature of socioeconomic inequalities in health in modern societies. The relatively favourable trends in the Nordic countries suggest that these countries' welfare states were able to buffer many of the adverse effects of economic crises on the health of disadvantaged groups.

[Inequalities in health in Italy]. / Diseguaglianze di salute in Italia.

Socioeconomic inequality and its impact on health is a growing concern in the European public health debate. In many countries, the issue is moving away from description towards the identification of the determinants of inequalities and the development of policies explicitly aimed at reducing inequalities in health. In Italy, ten years after the publication of the first report on inequalities in health, this topic is seldom present on the agenda of public policy makers. The purpose of this report is to update the Italian profile of social variation in health and health care in order to stimulate the debate on ways to tackle inequalities in health that are preventable. In the first section of this book, the threefold objective is to describe the principal mechanisms involved in the generation of social inequalities in health (Introduction); to report Italian data on the distribution and magnitude of this phenomenon in the last decade; and to evaluate policies and interventions in both the social (chapter 1.9, Section I) and the health sector (chapter 2.3, Section I), which are potentially useful to reduce health inequalities. It is intended for anyone who is in a position to contribute t o decision-making that will benefit the health of communities. For this reason, chapters are organized by specific determinants of inequalities on which interentions may have an impact. The methodological approach in the second section focuses on the best methods to monitor social inequalities including recommendations on social indicators, sources of information and study models, based on European guidelines revised for the Italian situation. According to data from national and local studies, mortality increases linearly with social disadvantage for a wide range of indicators at both the individual (education, social class, income, quality of housing) and the geographical level (deprivation indexes computed at different levels of aggregation). This positive correlation is evident for both sexes, with the steepest gradient observed among adults of working age, although differences persist also among the elderly. The causes of death found to be most highly correlated with social inequality, and largely responsible for the increasing inequality over the last decade, are those associated with addiction and exclusion (drug, alcohol and violence related deaths), with smoking (lung cancer) and with safety in the workplace and on the roads (accidents). Similar gradients and trends have been observed with different outcomes, such as self-reported morbidity, disability and cancer incidence (chapter 1.1, Section I). Reproductive outcomes confiirm this picture: compared to women belonging to the upper classes, those women in low conditions experience more spontaneous abortions and their children suffer from higher infant mortality and low birth weight. This is a critical issue since poor infant health, particularly for metabolic and respiratory pathologies, affects health in adult life. There is now substantive evidence showing that also socioeconomic circumstances at birth or during adolescence may have a strong impact on adult health (chapter 1.2, Section I). Differences in harmful lifestyles, such as smoking, heavy drinking, drug use, unhealthy diet, obesity and physical inactivity, have a similar effect. The only exception is smoking among women, which is positively correlated with socioeconomic status; however, since women in the upper classes have a greater tendency to quit smoking, the gradient will soon be reversed (chapter 1.7, Section I). On the other hand, most of these behaviours do not follow from free and conscious individual choice; they are a form of adaptation to chronic stress originating in the work-place (chapter 1.4, Section I), or to particularly unfavourable events and conditions, such as unemployment (chapter 1.5, Section I) or lack of family and social support (chapter 1.6, Section I). Poor socioeconomic circumstances are the threshold of absolute poverty and may lead to social exclusion, a condition with a heavy impact on health, which in Italy includes marginal groups of the native population and broader classes of immigrants (chapter 1.3, Section I). Finally, there is recent and consistent evidence on the existence of a "contextual" effect on health, as opposed to the "compositional" effect given solely by the aggregation of individual processes. According to this hypothesis, characteristics of the infrastructure, and the physical and socioeconomic environment of an area would have an impact on individual health independent from the cultural and economic resources personally available to people living in that area (chapter 1.8, Section I). With respect to the health care system, various studies are in agreement in demonstrating that poor and less educated people have inadequate access both to primary prevention and early diagnosis (chapter 2.1, Section I), and to early and appropriate care (chapter 2.2, Section I). They also experience higher rates of hospitalization, particularly in emergencies and with advanced levels of severity.

Social mobility and health in the Turin longitudinal study.

One of the most controversial explanations of class inequalities in health is the health selection hypothesis or drift hypothesis which suggests there is a casual link between the health status of individuals and their chances of social mobility, both inter- and intra-generational. This study tests this hypothesis, and tries to answer three related questions: (a) to what extent does health status influence the chances of intra-generational mobility of individuals? (b) what is the impact on health inequalities of the various kinds of social mobility (both mobility in the labour market and exit from employment)-do they increase or reduce inequalities? (c) to what extent does health-related intra-generational social mobility contribute to the production of health inequalities? The data analysed in this paper were drawn from the records of the Turin Longitudinal Study, which was set up to monitor health inequality of the Turin population by combining census data, population registry records and medical records. Occupational mobility was observed during the decade 1981-1991. To evaluate the impact of the various processes of social mobility on health inequalities, mortality was observed over the period 1991-1999. The study population consists of men and women aged 25-49 at the beginning of mortality follow-up (1991), and registered as resident in Turin at both the 1981 and the 1991 censuses (N = 127,384). Health status was determined by observing hospital admission. For the purpose of the study healthy individuals were those with no hospital admissions during the period 1984-1986, while those admitted were classed as unhealthy. Social mobility in the labour market was measured via an interval data index of upward and downward movements on a scale of social desirability of occupations, designed for the Italian labour force via an empirical study carried out by de Lillo and Schizzerotto (La valutazione sociale delle occupazioni. Una scala di stratificazione occupazionale per l'Italia contemporanea, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1985). Movement out of the labour market was described by a discrete variable with four conditions: employed, unemployed, early retired and women returning from work to the housewife status. The relationship between health status and occupational mobility was analysed via analysis of variance and multinomial logistic regression. Health inequalities were measured by the ratio of standardised mortality rates in the unskilled working class and the upper middle class. The study found a weak relationship between health status and occupational mobility chances. Decidedly stronger was the impact on occupational mobility of gender, education and "ethnicity" (being born in the South of Italy). The relationship between occupational mobility and health takes two different forms. Occupational mobility in the labour market decreases health inequalities; occupational mobility out of the labour market (early retirement, unemployment, housewife return) widens them. The maximum contribution health-related intra-generational social mobility can make towards health inequalities was estimated at about 13% for men.