Family caregiving is a growing phenomenon with the increased prevalence of chronic illness and shorter hospitalizations. Rare diseases pose significant challenges not only to patients living with these kinds of pathologies but also to those who care for these patients. The caregiving role has specific characteristics. The present work aims to increase knowledge of the challenges that are common or specific to fathers and mothers of children diagnosed with a rare disease. Moreover, the paper analyses the kinds of social support they experience according to gender. A descriptive study was conducted using grounded theory methodology. A semi-structured interview with open-ended questions was conducted with 15 parents of children with a rare disease. The interview was organized into three main areas: personal experiences in caring for a child with a rare disease, family changes and perceived social support. The transcriptions were analyzed using NVivo 11 software. From data analysis, themes emerged regarding the challenges shared by fathers and mothers, but some aspects also emerged that were gender-specific. The analyses of differences between mothers’ and fathers’ narratives showed that there is a specific experience of the impact that caregiving has on parents’ relationships with their jobs and on their worries. Self-help group is the main source of social support for all respondents. We discuss these findings in relation to possible appropriate specific interventions and support for family caregiving.

The primary objective of this article is to contribute to the literature on the Photovoice method through analysis of its characteristics. The Photovoice visual methodology often employed in qualitative research in the frame of community psychology because it enables participants to express their ideas using pictures. This study aims to demonstrate the utility of Photovoice through presentation of evidence gathered during our study on immigration to exemplify some issues surrounding group interaction, picture interpretation and symbolic meaning. This qualitative method has some defining features: first, Photovoice offers participants the opportunity to discuss and interpret their photographs in a group where each participant can share his/her perspective, based on his/her experiences and values. Second, the method allows participants to represent an idea by capturing images of inanimate objects that may symbolise the personal meaning attributed to the research topics. Third, it is well suited to communicating a general understanding of the research topics with the benefit that it may integrate influences from the participants’ lives.

This paper offers a presentation of the characteristics of self-determination theory (SDT) in the health context as well as attempts to identify how this theory could be useful for facing health innovation challenges. Health innovation is based on scientific advances that have more complex relationships with health. This paper encourages the use of the SDT approach to face health innovation, both for physiological and pathological processes. In particular, the focus is on the changes and lifestyle choices related to physiological pregnancy and birth and to oncological genetic tests in the Italian context. The health innovation paradigm focuses on patients taking responsibility for making important health-related choices, and we think that SDT can offer new stimuli in light of the changes implemented from innovations in the field of health. The aim is that this manuscript will stimulate researchers to test the potential of this theory in the field of changing health-related processes. Practitioners are called upon to revise their orientation toward patients and, according to SDT, they should support autonomy rather than control the promotion of health-related change.

Community resilience among Ukrainian refugees: what is the role of the host community in recovery from forced migration?