LIBRI DI GIUSEPPINA CERSOSIMO

The aim of this research is to explore the theme of death using qualitative study tools as part of the general design, in order to investigate two main issues: an ethical and value funded perspective, connected to the "meanings" and values, regarding the internal and personal experience of the respondents, as well as a practical-behaviour, expressing the choices made by people about their own lives. The key respondents in the survey were physicians, as well as ill and healthy citizens, both male and female. They were all from different educational backgrounds, as well as locations (north, centre, south of Italy). The final report reaffirms the awareness of human finitude as well as a frequent personal aspiration to go beyond that. The main outcomes of study outline the dichotomies of life, death, illness, health, and how their symbolic declinations form the basis upon which the term self-determination can be traced. Thus, they become the semantic device through which it is possible to express ideas and opinions in relation to the context in which people live. There is no evidence that there is an area in the country, more or less emancipated on the themes of death. In addition, education and gender do not seem to influence the way death and right to die are perceived.

Ethics in Health Care: Citizens’ Empowerment, Participation and Information. Roads to development? - The article underlines how techniques, rules, rights and ethics constitute, or could, a set of requirements and conditions needed to give shape to a legitimate clinical experimentation on human beings and, in particular, on subjects considered vulnerable. The article focuses on the relation between doctors, researchers, bio-ethic experts, lawyers, pharmaceutical promoters and citizens. It presents the heterogeneous knowledge and interests in ethical issues regarding health care, with overlapping of equity and equality in terms of access to clinical experimentation, as well as citizens’ difficulty in comprehending clinical experimentation and its effects. Finally, the study conducted with the focus group technique leads to a model that allows citizens and non-specialists to talk about participation and responsibility regarding clinical experimentation.

Innovazione ed efficacia: il coinvolgimento del sociologo in una Divisione di Medicina Interna - Sociologists’ work in hospitals has some deep historical roots, as it is shown by the studies of Goffman, Garfinkel or Strauss. This article points out that the involvement and the capability of health sociologists may result in good ouputs in a division of internal medicine. The sociologist in health setting is needed for civic empowerment, proposals and promotion. Moreover, the medical sociologist creates connections between different resources for individual or collective projects, as also for preventive or innovative undertakings.

Keywords: innovation, effectivness, sociologist of health, empowerment, prevention, hospital.

Parole chiave: innovazione, efficacia, sociologo della salute, responsabilità, prevenzione, ospedale.

The valorisation of territorial resources in the Mediterranean: areas and perspectives of development - Tourism is a key concept for many people when they think about Mediterranean localities and their development; however, the valorisation process of such areas is complex and not straightforward at all. This article illustrates a project of sustainable development and rehabilitation of territorial resources by exploring issues such as the role of memory in society, the function of oblivion and remembrance in innovation, and the issue and the importance of social networks; all of them are vital factors in the valorisation of the very often neglected or undervalued resources of the Mediterranean localities.

Women, alcohol, rehabilitation: the importance of the social networks This article introduces the results of a survey conducted in Irpinia, focusing on the importance of both functional and dysfunctional aspects of social networks. Among other results, interviews highlighted the fact that the number of relationships established by women may in some cases guarantee rehabilitation and re-socialization to «normality» of everyday life. On the contrary, in other cases social networks are expression of a contradictory and ambivalent dimension, needed but at the same time objectively «oppressive» and consequently both loved and hated.