Articles by Francesca Tessitore
European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling , 2019
Taking a psychodynamic perspective, the present exploratory study proposes an integrated approach... more Taking a psychodynamic perspective, the present exploratory study proposes an integrated approach to explore the forced migratory experience, focusing simultaneously on mental health risk and protective factors and on the quality of the subjective experience of migration. We aimed to evaluate trauma and protective factors and to explore in-depth representations and meanings asylum seekers hosted in Italy attribute to their experiences. Levels of trauma and resilience were first evaluated for twenty asylum seekers hosted in two Reception Centres; then, in-depth interviews were administered. Six out of twenty participants presented with symptoms of trauma and all presented with moderately high resilience levels. The interviews were analysed using a quality-quantitative methodology via T-Lab software, and showed four the- matic clusters: A godforsaken place; From death to life across the sea; Memories from the past; Searching for a land of care. In line with the identity fracture highlighted in psychodynamic literature, our results show a breakdown between the deeper and original aspects of participants’ identity and their new cultural identity as migrants, which has many social components. Reflections on the implications of the study will be outlined.
Health Care for Women International , 2019
We present a qualitative study exploring the subjective mean- ings that five female Nigerian asyl... more We present a qualitative study exploring the subjective mean- ings that five female Nigerian asylum seekers hosted in Italy attributed to their pre-migratory, migratory and post-migra- tory experiences, with an examination in-depth of the gender identity dimensions. We developed and administered semi- structured interviews, analyzed according to the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. On the background of the identity breakdown produced by forced migration, we highlight an inadequate integration process of the gender roles of woman and mother, generating a fracture that makes women’s experi- ences particularly fragile. Reflections on the implication of the study and of the development of intervention programs will be outlined.
Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2019
The present study aimed to explore in-depth meanings and representations that 6 refugees hosted i... more The present study aimed to explore in-depth meanings and representations that 6 refugees hosted in Italy attributed to their pre-migratory, migratory and post-migratory experiences. We developed and administered semi-structured interviews, analysed accordingly to the principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. A total of four superordinate themes emerged: The past, the case is over; The Committee as witness of my truth; Italy, Never Land; The future between agency and delegation. The past emerged as a "case over", which participants tended to avoid talking about, while the Territorial Committee played a fundamental role as witness and legitimiser of their life stories. Positive post-migratory experiences configured a resilience field, which is able to strengthen and empower refugees' resources as well as to restore the social and community links normally destroyed by severe traumatisation. Implications for research and clinical interventions will be outlined.
Introduction: Within a wider international research project aimed at operationalize the psychodyn... more Introduction: Within a wider international research project aimed at operationalize the psychodynamic construct of capacity to love (Kernberg, 2011), the Capacity to Love Inventory (CTL-I) is a 41-items self-report questionnaire assessing six dimensions: interest in the life project of the other, basic trust, gratitude, common ego ideal, permanence of sexual passion, loss, and mourning. Objectives: The study is aimed at validating the Italian version of the CTL-I. Method: A total sample of 736 Italian non-clinical adults was administered a checklist assessing socio-demographic variables, and the CTL-I. A Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) was conducted to examine the construct validity of the Italian version of the CTL-I. Only a part of the total sample (320 participants) was administered an additional series of concurrent measures in order to investigate the convergent validity of the CTL-I. Correlations with measures of socio-sexual orientation, quality of romance relations, and psychopathological questionnaires were examined through Pearson's correlation coefficients. Results: CFA results suggested that the Italian CTL-I fully replicated the six-factor structure of the original CTL-I. Cronbach's alpha index provided satisfactory results for all subscales and the correlations with concurrent measures were in expected direction. Conclusion: The results showed promising psychometric characteristics of the Italian version of CTL-I. Implications of the feasibility of the instrument in clinical and psychotherapeutic settings are discussed.
Introduction: Researchers have shown that being a daughter of a teenage mother is a risk factor r... more Introduction: Researchers have shown that being a daughter of a teenage mother is a risk factor regarding the possibility of having early, unprotected sexual intercourse and of falling pregnant. The experiences of young mothers in such situations and the aspects of intergenerational transmission in the mother–daughter relationship have not been well investigated.
Objectives: This study analyses the experience of motherhood in young mothers (18–20 years at the time of the interview/15–16 at the time of their pregnancy) who are daughters of teen mothers themselves from the psy- chodynamic perspective of intergenerational transmission.
Methods: Six young mothers from Southern Italy were selected and interviewed. A semi-structured interview was used to explore the early experience of pregnancy and motherhood and their relationship with their own mo- thers. The interviews were analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results: Five superordinate themes emerged: I didn't want, I didn't see and I didn't feel; Adolescence? I suddenly became a mother; History repeats itself again and again; Confused Spaces and How difficult is coming into the world? Conclusion: Adolescent mothers, who themselves are daughters of teen mothers, seem to have difficulty in re- presenting the meanings associated with their experience of pregnancy and motherhood. A lack of narrative transmission of the experience of pregnancy from mothers to daughters emerged. The implications for research and social policies will be discussed.
Review, 2017
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nowadays, 65,3 million in... more According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nowadays, 65,3 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide. In Europe, Italy is one of the countries with the highest number of asylum seeker arrivals per year and the emergency nature of the present-day migratory flows are increasingly involving researchers and clinicians to come up with and develop new models of research and interventions. This article aims to conduct a review of the Italian psychological research in the field of forced migration in order to systematise the Italian studies, to compare the Italian situation with the international one and to define limits, resources and future directions of current Italian research. A literature review in the databases Scopus, PubMed and Web of Knowledge for documents published from 2012 to 2017 was conducted. From the analysis, twelve articles emerged
Conference Presentations by Francesca Tessitore
XXI National Congress Italian Psychological Association Clinical and Dynamic Section Milan – 27-29 September 2019, 2019
Introduction: The disruption of the symbolisation and meaning-making processes provoked by severe... more Introduction: The disruption of the symbolisation and meaning-making processes provoked by severe traumatisation so often lived by forced migrants, constitutes a challenge for researchers and clinicians who need to rethought and adapt methodologies and approaches of interventions till now used to the forced migrants’ needs. Hypothesising that the images represent a useful support to the linguistic and transcultural difficulties lived by refugees, we developed a new images-mediated narrative interview: The Asylum Seekers Images-mediated Narrative Interview. This study presents the evaluation of its effects on narrative meaning-making processes.
Methods: 36 male Nigerian asylum seekers hosted in three CAS of the Campania Region, were randomly divided in two groups. Trauma, resilience and post-migration difficulties were evaluated for each participant. The experimental group was administered by the images-mediated interview; whereas, the control one by a not-images mediated interview. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive analysis; the interviews were analysed according to the dimensions of the narrative meaning-making processes (Fivush et al., 2012): Internal States, Coherence, Reflective Insights. A MANOVA was also carried out to evaluate the significance of eventual differences of narrative indexes between groups.
Results: High levels of resilience and low levels of PTSD emerged in both groups. From descriptive analysis, narrative indexes were higher in the experimental group. The MANOVA showed statistically significant differences in the experimental group in Internal States and Coherence, caused by the only effect “experimental vs control group” (F(8,25)=5.902, p=.000, η2 partial=.65).
Discussion: Results confirmed the potentialities of the new methodology in promoting meaning-making processes, supporting the usefulness of qualitative research for the construction of person-centred intervention in line with the needs of vulnerable individuals.
Migration. From Conflict and Hate to Healing and Hope, 2019
According to the UNHCR (2016), among the generable category of asylum seekers and refugees, women... more According to the UNHCR (2016), among the generable category of asylum seekers and refugees, women have to be considered as vulnerable populations by virtue of specific needs and susceptibility. Although the international and national literature on asylum seekers and refugees is wide and continually developing, a tendency to a gender neutrality, which obscures specific needs and resources of refugees’ women, seems still present. Where researches have focused on women as forced migrants, they have often looked at specific aspects of their migratory experiences: their experiences of detention, their unequal access to the health care services, as well as their higher exposure to sexual and gender-based violence. Taking a focus on gender identity, the present study explores the subjective meanings that five Nigerian female asylum seekers, hosted in one Extraordinary Reception Centre in the Campania Region, attributed to their pre-migratory, migratory and post-migratory experiences, with the specific aim to shed light on the specificity of their needs and experiences as women, throughout different temporal phases and contexts. A semi-structured interview was developed and analysed following the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis principles. The study has contributed to deeper insight into how women experience an inadequate integration between the gender roles of woman and mother. The female identity, strongly influenced by gender, ethnic and cultural inequalities lived in Nigeria and still perceived in Italy, emerged as a negative brand which exposed to vulnerabilities and discriminations along different times and spaces. Instead, the identity of mother, emerged as supportive and resilient factor which encouraged women to flee and to resist to adversities. On the background of the identity fracture normally provoked by migration, women’ experiences emerged as particularly fragile. The need to develop intervention projects intended as places in which women cultural, gender and ethnic identities could start to be recognised and re-placed emerged.
XVII NATIONAL CONGRESS ITALIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CLINICAL AND DYNAMIC SECTION, 2015
Introduction: In the field of empirical research on psychodynamic groups psychotherapies, nowaday... more Introduction: In the field of empirical research on psychodynamic groups psychotherapies, nowadays important results have been made on outcomes and processes. Studies focus on dream functions in group process are still slight. The study explores expressions and functions of dream in the psychotherapeutic process of different typologies of institutional groups.
Method: Six psychotherapeutic groups of patients with severe psychopathologies were monitored for six months through protocols of the observers. The groups with some homogeneous criteria in the setting, differ in the diagnosis (personality disorders and psychotic disorders/only psychotic disorders). The observation protocols were categorized through a content analysis according to some thematic categories (interpersonal relationship; mechanism of defense; maintenance of setting; presence of dreams). From the protocols 20 dreams narration emerged which were analyzed using Hall & Van de Castle Coding system.
Results: The monosymptomatic groups of psychotic patients do not produce dreams narrations. The chance to dream the psychotherapeutic group and to invest it in terms of representation and affects appears where the group process has elaborative capability.
Conclusions: The results seem to confirm in the context of group Bion’s hypothesis on difficulty in the psychotic condition to approach to the dream as product of mental function. Some theoretical implications on the potential of dream work, as indicator of group process, will be discussed.
XX NATIONAL CONGRESS ITALIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CLINICAL AND DYNAMIC SECTION URBINO – 7/9 SEPTEMBER 2018, 2018
Introduction: Among the generable category of asylum seekers and refugees, women and minors have ... more Introduction: Among the generable category of asylum seekers and refugees, women and minors have to be considered as vulnerable populations by virtue of their susceptibility to sexual and gender-based violence and of their specific needs (UNHCR, 2017). Studies focused on women as forced migrants have mainly looked at their higher exposure to sexual violence (Bradley & Tawfiq, 2006; Rogstad & Dale, 2004; Boersma, 2003) as well as on their higher risk, compared to men, to develop post-traumatic stress disorders (Breslau & Anthony, 2007; Tolin & Foa, 2006), somatic symptoms or emotional outbursts (Renner & Salem, 2009) as consequence of traumatic events. However, although the displacement phenomenon, in its current serious state, is relatively recent and the international literature on asylum seekers and refugees is wide, research on vulnerable populations, especially on women, is still underdeveloped and need to be increased (Keygnaert et al., 2014; Kalt et al., 2013). Method: The present study aimed to explore the meanings that asylum-seekers women attribute to their migratory experiences. 10 Nigerian asylum seekers women (mean age 25), hosted in an Extraordinary Reception Centre were met. Semi-structured interviews based on the whole migratory experience were administered and analysed according to the principles of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology (Smith & Osborn, 2003; Smith et al., 2009). Results: 3 Superordinate themes emerged: No Country for young African women; Face to face with death; Learning to be myself. Discussion: On the background of the complexity of all migratory phases, the gender dimension assumes a key role in defining and influencing experiences. Being an African woman exposes to a high mandate in the Mother Earth as well as to stigma and preconceptions in the hosting country. The capability to resist and re-invent themselves as women and/or mothers emerged as positive aspect to face with challenges and obstacles.
AIP-XIX Congresso Nazionale dell'Associazione Italiana di Psicologia, 2017
Introduction: Traumatic experiences are “events” that hit and disorganize the psychic structure, ... more Introduction: Traumatic experiences are “events” that hit and disorganize the psychic structure, interrupting the identity coherence. Evidence emerging from the field of refugee mental health has revealed that the traumatic events experienced by asylum seekers and refugees, generally interrelated and cumulative, lead to increased risk of psychological distress and psychopathology (Slewa-Younan et al. 2015; Rohlof et al., 2013). Nevertheless, it’s been also highlighted how important is to consider that the response to adversities varies from individual to individual, and includes a lot of factors (Thomas et al., 2011; Papadopoulos, 2007). According to us, to improve our understanding of the deep complexity of asylum seekers’ experience, diagnostic models need to be connected to models that focus on the relationship between individual needs and contextual factors. Method: The study aims to 1) evaluate traumatic and resilience levels in asylum seekers; 2) explore the meanings of pre and post-migration experiences considering the role of traumatic and resilient levels. We met 20 North-African asylum seekers, hosted in Asylum Seekers’ Shelters. PTSD Checklist, Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Resilience Scale and in-depth interviews were administered. The interviews were analysed by the software T-LAB. Results: Only 35% of participants presented a Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (M PCL-C: 47; SD: 13,27) but more than 50% reported a traumatic impact regarding the experience in Libya (M IES-R: 37,9; SD: 20). Moderately high resilience levels emerged (M RS: 141,15; SD: 21,24). The analysis of the interviews shows 4 thematic clusters: From death to life across the sea; Land of care; A godforsaken place; Memories from the past. Discussion: Themes emerged from asylum seekers’ narratives seem to be independent from traumatic and resilient levels suggesting an homogeneous field of experience in which migration trauma is narrated.
ECPA 10th European Congress of Community Psychology; Reflections and Challenges: Community Psychology in the European Context, 2017
Background: During 2016, the arrival in Europe of thousands of asylum-seekers throws in crisis th... more Background: During 2016, the arrival in Europe of thousands of asylum-seekers throws in crisis the certainties on which our continent has built his common identity. In Italy, to deal with huge numbers of arrivals, Temporary Asylum-Seekers’ Shelters were opened. Born as an emergency solution, nowadays these centres represent the ordinary system on which around 80% of Italian hospitality is based. Researches in the field of refugees and asylum-seekers are mainly focused on their increased risk of psychological distress and psychopathology of forced migrants (Steel et al., 2009; Fazel et al., 2005; Mollica et al., 1998a, 1998b), but the adverse effects of trauma are also compounded by different post-migration stressors, including living difficulties, unemployment, discrimination (Porter & Haslam, 2005). Aim: The study aims to explore the representations of pre- and post-migration experience of 20 North African asylum-seekers hosted in Italian Asylum-Seekers’ Shelters. Method: In depth interviews were administered and analysed by the software T-LAB (Lancia, 2004). Results: The analysis of the interviews showed 4 thematic clusters: From death to life across the sea; Land of care; A godforsaken place; Memories from the past. Conclusion: We have considered the narrative tool as an important method to analyse asylum-seekers’ needs, requirements and experiences. Cumulative traumatic experiences and an ambivalent view of Italy and of the shelters emerged from narratives. According to us, understanding the way in which asylum-seekers represent their present experience could allow to plan efficient intervention projects and to improve the hospitality politics.
Borders, Racisms, and Harms: A Symposium-Birkbeck, University of London, 2018
The present study aimed at an in-depth exploration of representations that asylum seekers attribu... more The present study aimed at an in-depth exploration of representations that asylum seekers attribute to their migration experiences and to consider if and how different levels of trauma and resilience differentiate the experiences. 20 asylum seekers, hosted in two Italian Extraordinary Reception Centres, were interviewed in depth; PTSD Checklist and Resilience Scale were also administered. A quali-quantitative methodology of data analysis through the software T-Lab was conducted. Few participants presented post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms but moderately high resilience levels emerged. The analysis of the interviews shows 4 thematic clusters: A godforsaken place; From death to life across the sea; Memories from the past; Searching for a land of care. Graphic representation of clusters on the factorial plane confirms the identity fracture that the migration experience produced. In the narratives, different levels of traumatic symptoms did not differentiate experiences, suggesting that trauma has a homogenous quality that marks all the migration phases. The need to look at the asylum seekers’ experience overall, in its temporal dimension and complexity, emerged.
Book Chapters by Francesca Tessitore
Healthcare and Culture: subjectivity in medical contexts, 2017
Posters by Francesca Tessitore
XIII Congresso Nazionale Associazione SIPSA Società Italiana di Psicologia della Salute, Napoli 23-26 maggio 2019., 2019
Introduzione: Le esperienze traumatiche, così spesso vissute dai richiedenti asilo, hanno come pr... more Introduzione: Le esperienze traumatiche, così spesso vissute dai richiedenti asilo, hanno come principale conseguenza il collasso dei processi di simbolizzazione e meaning-making (Levine, 2014; Bohleber, 2007). Considerando la funzione che l’organizzazione narrativa dell’esperienza assume per il benessere psicologico, incrementare i processi di meaning-making negli individui potenzialmente traumatizzati diventa una priorità. Con l’ipotesi che le immagini possano costituire un utile supporto rispetto alle problematiche linguistiche e transculturali, un primo step di un più ampio progetto di ricerca ha previsto la costruzione dell’Asylum Seekers Images-mediated Narrative Interview (Tessitore, 2019). Il presente studio presenta i risultati di un secondo step volto a valutare gli effetti del nuovo strumento sui processi di meaning-making.
Metodo: 36 richiedenti asilo uomini Nigeriani ospiti di tre CAS in Campania sono stati suddivisi random in due gruppi. Per ciascun partecipante sono stati valutati i livelli di trauma, resilienza e difficoltà post-migratorie. Al gruppo sperimentale è stata somministrata l’intervista mediata da immagini; al gruppo di controllo un’intervista non mediata da immagini. Sui dati quantitativi sono state condotte analisi descrittive; mentre le interviste sono state analizzate secondo le principali dimensioni dei processi narrativi di meaning-making (Fivush, Bohanek, Zaman, & Grapin, 2012): Stati interni, Coerenza, Insight Riflessivi. Infine, è stata condotta una MANOVA per valutare la significatività delle eventuali differenze degli indici narrativi tra i gruppi.
Risultati: Nei due gruppi emergono alti livelli di resilienza e una bassa presenza di soggetti sintomatici al PTSD. Dalle analisi descrittive, gli indici narrativi risultano maggiori nel gruppo sperimentale. La MANOVA mostra differenze statisticamente significative nel gruppo sperimentale in Stati Interni e Coerenza, dovute al solo fattore “gruppo sperimentale vs controllo” (F(8,25)=5.902, p=.000, η2 partial=.65).
Conclusione: I risultati confermano le potenzialità dell’intervista mediata da immagini nel promuovere meaning-making, incoraggiando l’utilizzo della ricerca qualitativa per la creazione di percorsi individualizzati che incontrino i bisogni dei soggetti vulnerabili.
XXI National Congress Italian Psychological Association Clinical and Dynamic Section Milan – 27-29 September 2019, 2019
Introduction: The increasing number of displaced people worldwide makes the “forced migratory iss... more Introduction: The increasing number of displaced people worldwide makes the “forced migratory issue” an utmost priority for researchers and clinicians who are even more required to address and take care of refugees’ well-being and mental health as well as to re-think models and approaches of research and clinical practices in the relationship with the Cultural Otherness. Within a wider project of research (Tessitore & Margherita, submitted; Margherita & Tessitore, 2019; Tessitore & Margherita, 2018; Margherita & Tessitore, 2017; Tessitore & Margherita, 2017), the present exploratory study was aimed to explore in-depth meanings and representations that 6 refugees hosted in Italy attributed to their pre-migratory, migratory and post-migratory experiences. In particular, through a qualitative approach, we aimed to shed light on risk and protective factors along different temporal phases, taking into account the specific needs and requirements of refugees who, by virtue of a different social-juridical status and of different experiences, need to be differentiate from asylum seekers.
Method: We developed and administered semi-structured interviews that were analysed accordingly to the principles of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2011; Smith & Osborn, 2008; Smith, 1995).
Results: A total of four superordinate themes emerged: The past, the case is over; The Committee as witness of my truth; Italy, Never Land; The future between agency and delegation.
Discussion: On the background of an avoidance in speaking about the past, the Territorial Committee embodied a fundamental witness function able to recognise and validate the participants’ experiences. Positive post-migratory experiences configured a resilience field able to strengthen and empower refugees’ resources as well as to restore the social and community links normally destroyed by sever traumatisation.
2° Giornata di Studio S.I.P.Co Competenze psicologiche per l’intervento di comunità Cosa serve per rendere le comunità più competenti?, 2017
Descrizione del progetto: Il contributo presenta gli esiti di uno studio pilota condotto nell’amb... more Descrizione del progetto: Il contributo presenta gli esiti di uno studio pilota condotto nell’ambito di un progetto di ricerca-intervento portato avanti dalla Cattedra di Psicologia Dinamica dell’Università di Napoli Federico II in collaborazione con Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria per Richiedenti Asilo (CAS) nella provincia di Caserta. I CAS, gestiti da cooperative private, sorgono nel tentativo di far fronte al sempre maggiore numero di arrivi in Italia di coloro che fanno richiesta di protezione internazionale. Ad oggi, in Italia i CAS ospitano 137.555 richiedenti asilo; solo 13.963 sono, invece, ospiti dei CARA, di natura governativa (UNHCR, 2017). La natura acerba ed emergenziale di tali servizi rende necessaria la riflessione su possibili interventi in grado di potenziare le politiche di prima accoglienza e le strategie psicologico-sociali da mettere in campo (Tessitore & Margherita, 2017). Rispetto alla vulnerabile fase di sospensione giuridico-sociale ed identitaria vissuta dai richiedenti asilo, la letteratura ha evidenziato come i fattori di protezione si collochino in un ampio range che va da fattori di natura individuale a fattori di natura contestuale (Ryan et al., 2009). In tale ottica si situa il nostro contributo. Lo studio ha previsto la somministrazione a 20 richiedenti asilo ospiti di un CAS di strumenti quantitativi per valutare gli aspetti traumatici, il funzionamento adattivo e le risorse e di strumenti qualitativi col fine esplorare la complessità dell’esperienza pre e post migratoria. Competenze: I soli strumenti quantitativi non rendono ragione di tutta la complessità dell’esperienza di migrazione e necessitano perciò di essere affiancati a strumenti di tipo qualitativo. Nell’esplorazione delle esperienze pre e post migratorie dei partecipanti risultano importanti le competenze clinico-sociali nel dialogo tra le varie figure professionali, come emerso dalla collaborazione con i mediatori culturali. Riflessioni conclusive: Il dispositivo narrativo e un approccio multiculturale risultano necessari al fine di indagare bisogni, risorse e possibili strategie di intervento necessarie all’implementazione di progetti di prima accoglienza indirizzati a tutti gli attori sociali in essa coinvolti.
XVIII Congresso Nazionale Associazione Italiana di Psicologia- Sezione di Psicologia clinica e dinamica, 2016
In Italy the increasing phenomenon of feminine migration mainly concerns East Europe (Istat, 2015... more In Italy the increasing phenomenon of feminine migration mainly concerns East Europe (Istat, 2015). East European women, in order to support their families, emigrate searching for works opportunities which principally involve domestic or nursing duties. In a general redefinition of their own psychic and cultural identity (Grinberg & Grinberg, 1990), migrant mothers redefine also their motherhood adopting several strategies to negotiate their absence from home. In a social framework, commodification of love and technological management of family relations appear as dominant characteristics of transnational mothering (Orellana et al., 2011; Parreñas, 2001). Less investigated are emotional dimensions. The migration and transnational motherhood experiences were investigated through a semi-structured interview and analysed by the phenomenologicalinterpretative analysis (IPA) (Smith & Osborn, 2003; Smith et al., 2009). 5 women were selected on the basis of the following criteria: to be an immigrant woman who has lived in Italy at least from 10 years with regular residency permit, to have abandoned their children in their country in a phase between the second childhood and the preadolescence. Met in an Onlus, all women have Ukrainian origins, 50 median age, are divorced and employed as domestic workers. Four superordinate themes emerged: It’s up to woman, it’s up to me; Suspended between two worlds; An empty which we can’t narrate; The good mother must stay with her children. The motherhood experience is felt either as an heroic and feminine gesture which, through sacrifice, guarantees a better future, or a regret for the loss of essential steps of children life. The complex migration experience is represented as a suspension between two worlds, as well as a point of no return, in which the same Mother Earth, is perceived as a treacherous Mother.
XVII NATIONAL CONGRESS ITALIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CLINICAL AND DYNAMIC SECTION, 2015
In Italy 90% of teen pregnancies occur in young women who are daughters of teenage mothers (Istat... more In Italy 90% of teen pregnancies occur in young women who are daughters of teenage mothers (Istat, 2012). Supposing a transgenerational transmission (Abraham&Torok, 1987) these data could be read as the perpetuation from mother to daughter of unprocessed aspects that go along with the feminine separation-individuation process that happens in the name of the 'same' (Nunziante-Cesàro, 2014). Teenage pregnancies may represent the attempt to act the desire of a child 'repairer' or to hit the sexual body (Pines, 1988; Ammaniti et al., 1997). In a wider research field that investigates motherhood at risk (Margherita, Gargiulo, Martino, 2014; 2015; Troisi, Gargiulo, Tessitore, 2015), the study explores the relation between the representation of teenagers' pregnant experiences and the maternal ones. 15 women that have had a teenage pregnancy, daughters of teenage mothers were interviewed. A semi-structured interview, based on the Teen Mother Interview (Bohr, 2005), was built to investigate the reconstruction of the pregnancy experience and the relation with mothers. We have submitted the interviews corpus to a content analysis. From the analysis, in the area of the pregnancy experience, the categories of meaning that emerge are: the asymptomatic body, the concreteness of the birth and the interrupted adolescence. The pregnancy discovery comes late and its description is flattened on the birth, on the background of an adolescence lived between regret and denial. In the area of the relation with their mother, the categories: ‘same mistake’, ‘now we are two adult women’ and the overlapping roles, recall a repetition directed to the conquest of an adult identity, as the maternal one, in which roles recognition is hard. The emerging difficulties in mentalizing the body's restructurings and the acquisition of an adult identity, searched through imitative thrusts, on the background of confused roles, support the necessity of preventive interventions (Riva Crugnola, 2014).
XI Congresso Nazionale di Psicologia della Salute “Psicologia della Salute e salute della psicologia”, 2015
Secondo l’Istat (2012) il 2,1% delle gravidanze italiane coinvolge adolescenti (90% figlie di mad... more Secondo l’Istat (2012) il 2,1% delle gravidanze italiane coinvolge adolescenti (90% figlie di madri adolescenti) spesso provenienti da realtà socioeconomiche a rischio. La gravidanza, che comporta trasformazioni mentali e corporee da elaborare (Monacelli, 2011), è interpretabile come spinta regressiva o emancipativa (Ferraro e Nunziante-Cesàro, 1985) e può essere agita, laddove l’acting rappresenta una dimensione fase-specifica dell’adolescenza (Margherita, 2009; Blos, 1993,). Diventare madri-teen assume connotazioni rischiose dove più sfide evolutive si sovrappongono con la probabilità che non siano affrontate adeguatamente (Salerno e Tosto, 2012; Marcheggiani e Grasso, 2007; Zampino, 2005; Zani e Cicognani, 1999; Ammaniti et al., 1997), ed in cui si concretizza la presenza di “due minori a rischio” (Riva Crugnola, 2011). Inoltre, in gravidanza le condizioni di rischio possono caratterizzarsi come difficilmente rappresentabili( Margherita, Gargiulo e Martino, 2015; 2014). Lo studio esplora la ricostruzione dell’esperienza della maternità in adolescenza. Partendo dalla Teen Mother Interview (Bohr, 2005) è stata creata un’intervista semi-strutturata che indaga le aree adolescenza, esperienza di gravidanza, relazione con il figlio, relazione con la madre, relazione con il partner. Sono state intervistate 18 donne (età media 20), utenti di una Onlus che offre sostegno alla relazione madre-bambino, che hanno vissuto una gravidanza in adolescenza. Da un’analisi del contenuto emergono categorie di significato che rimandano alle dimensioni: “percezione del corpo”, “centralità del parto”, “adolescenza interrotta”, “confusione dei ruoli” (figlio/fratello, figlia/mamma, madre/nonna). L’esperienza di gravidanza appare inaspettata (99%), centrata sul parto e su un vissuto negativo dei cambiamenti del corpo, più visto che sentito. L’adolescenza è vissuta tra il rimpianto e la negazione. I ruoli appaiono confusi: il figlio assume tratti fraterni e la nonna si sostituisce alla madre, nella sovrapposizione tra identità non ancora elaborate: essere madre-essere figlia. Considerando la centralità degli aspetti concreti e poco mentalizzati, in un’ottica preventiva, ci si domanda quanto la gravidanza dia spazio al dispiegarsi di una maternità interiore (Bydlowski, 2004).
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Articles by Francesca Tessitore
Objectives: This study analyses the experience of motherhood in young mothers (18–20 years at the time of the interview/15–16 at the time of their pregnancy) who are daughters of teen mothers themselves from the psy- chodynamic perspective of intergenerational transmission.
Methods: Six young mothers from Southern Italy were selected and interviewed. A semi-structured interview was used to explore the early experience of pregnancy and motherhood and their relationship with their own mo- thers. The interviews were analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results: Five superordinate themes emerged: I didn't want, I didn't see and I didn't feel; Adolescence? I suddenly became a mother; History repeats itself again and again; Confused Spaces and How difficult is coming into the world? Conclusion: Adolescent mothers, who themselves are daughters of teen mothers, seem to have difficulty in re- presenting the meanings associated with their experience of pregnancy and motherhood. A lack of narrative transmission of the experience of pregnancy from mothers to daughters emerged. The implications for research and social policies will be discussed.
Conference Presentations by Francesca Tessitore
Methods: 36 male Nigerian asylum seekers hosted in three CAS of the Campania Region, were randomly divided in two groups. Trauma, resilience and post-migration difficulties were evaluated for each participant. The experimental group was administered by the images-mediated interview; whereas, the control one by a not-images mediated interview. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive analysis; the interviews were analysed according to the dimensions of the narrative meaning-making processes (Fivush et al., 2012): Internal States, Coherence, Reflective Insights. A MANOVA was also carried out to evaluate the significance of eventual differences of narrative indexes between groups.
Results: High levels of resilience and low levels of PTSD emerged in both groups. From descriptive analysis, narrative indexes were higher in the experimental group. The MANOVA showed statistically significant differences in the experimental group in Internal States and Coherence, caused by the only effect “experimental vs control group” (F(8,25)=5.902, p=.000, η2 partial=.65).
Discussion: Results confirmed the potentialities of the new methodology in promoting meaning-making processes, supporting the usefulness of qualitative research for the construction of person-centred intervention in line with the needs of vulnerable individuals.
Method: Six psychotherapeutic groups of patients with severe psychopathologies were monitored for six months through protocols of the observers. The groups with some homogeneous criteria in the setting, differ in the diagnosis (personality disorders and psychotic disorders/only psychotic disorders). The observation protocols were categorized through a content analysis according to some thematic categories (interpersonal relationship; mechanism of defense; maintenance of setting; presence of dreams). From the protocols 20 dreams narration emerged which were analyzed using Hall & Van de Castle Coding system.
Results: The monosymptomatic groups of psychotic patients do not produce dreams narrations. The chance to dream the psychotherapeutic group and to invest it in terms of representation and affects appears where the group process has elaborative capability.
Conclusions: The results seem to confirm in the context of group Bion’s hypothesis on difficulty in the psychotic condition to approach to the dream as product of mental function. Some theoretical implications on the potential of dream work, as indicator of group process, will be discussed.
Book Chapters by Francesca Tessitore
Posters by Francesca Tessitore
Metodo: 36 richiedenti asilo uomini Nigeriani ospiti di tre CAS in Campania sono stati suddivisi random in due gruppi. Per ciascun partecipante sono stati valutati i livelli di trauma, resilienza e difficoltà post-migratorie. Al gruppo sperimentale è stata somministrata l’intervista mediata da immagini; al gruppo di controllo un’intervista non mediata da immagini. Sui dati quantitativi sono state condotte analisi descrittive; mentre le interviste sono state analizzate secondo le principali dimensioni dei processi narrativi di meaning-making (Fivush, Bohanek, Zaman, & Grapin, 2012): Stati interni, Coerenza, Insight Riflessivi. Infine, è stata condotta una MANOVA per valutare la significatività delle eventuali differenze degli indici narrativi tra i gruppi.
Risultati: Nei due gruppi emergono alti livelli di resilienza e una bassa presenza di soggetti sintomatici al PTSD. Dalle analisi descrittive, gli indici narrativi risultano maggiori nel gruppo sperimentale. La MANOVA mostra differenze statisticamente significative nel gruppo sperimentale in Stati Interni e Coerenza, dovute al solo fattore “gruppo sperimentale vs controllo” (F(8,25)=5.902, p=.000, η2 partial=.65).
Conclusione: I risultati confermano le potenzialità dell’intervista mediata da immagini nel promuovere meaning-making, incoraggiando l’utilizzo della ricerca qualitativa per la creazione di percorsi individualizzati che incontrino i bisogni dei soggetti vulnerabili.
Method: We developed and administered semi-structured interviews that were analysed accordingly to the principles of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2011; Smith & Osborn, 2008; Smith, 1995).
Results: A total of four superordinate themes emerged: The past, the case is over; The Committee as witness of my truth; Italy, Never Land; The future between agency and delegation.
Discussion: On the background of an avoidance in speaking about the past, the Territorial Committee embodied a fundamental witness function able to recognise and validate the participants’ experiences. Positive post-migratory experiences configured a resilience field able to strengthen and empower refugees’ resources as well as to restore the social and community links normally destroyed by sever traumatisation.
Objectives: This study analyses the experience of motherhood in young mothers (18–20 years at the time of the interview/15–16 at the time of their pregnancy) who are daughters of teen mothers themselves from the psy- chodynamic perspective of intergenerational transmission.
Methods: Six young mothers from Southern Italy were selected and interviewed. A semi-structured interview was used to explore the early experience of pregnancy and motherhood and their relationship with their own mo- thers. The interviews were analysed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results: Five superordinate themes emerged: I didn't want, I didn't see and I didn't feel; Adolescence? I suddenly became a mother; History repeats itself again and again; Confused Spaces and How difficult is coming into the world? Conclusion: Adolescent mothers, who themselves are daughters of teen mothers, seem to have difficulty in re- presenting the meanings associated with their experience of pregnancy and motherhood. A lack of narrative transmission of the experience of pregnancy from mothers to daughters emerged. The implications for research and social policies will be discussed.
Methods: 36 male Nigerian asylum seekers hosted in three CAS of the Campania Region, were randomly divided in two groups. Trauma, resilience and post-migration difficulties were evaluated for each participant. The experimental group was administered by the images-mediated interview; whereas, the control one by a not-images mediated interview. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive analysis; the interviews were analysed according to the dimensions of the narrative meaning-making processes (Fivush et al., 2012): Internal States, Coherence, Reflective Insights. A MANOVA was also carried out to evaluate the significance of eventual differences of narrative indexes between groups.
Results: High levels of resilience and low levels of PTSD emerged in both groups. From descriptive analysis, narrative indexes were higher in the experimental group. The MANOVA showed statistically significant differences in the experimental group in Internal States and Coherence, caused by the only effect “experimental vs control group” (F(8,25)=5.902, p=.000, η2 partial=.65).
Discussion: Results confirmed the potentialities of the new methodology in promoting meaning-making processes, supporting the usefulness of qualitative research for the construction of person-centred intervention in line with the needs of vulnerable individuals.
Method: Six psychotherapeutic groups of patients with severe psychopathologies were monitored for six months through protocols of the observers. The groups with some homogeneous criteria in the setting, differ in the diagnosis (personality disorders and psychotic disorders/only psychotic disorders). The observation protocols were categorized through a content analysis according to some thematic categories (interpersonal relationship; mechanism of defense; maintenance of setting; presence of dreams). From the protocols 20 dreams narration emerged which were analyzed using Hall & Van de Castle Coding system.
Results: The monosymptomatic groups of psychotic patients do not produce dreams narrations. The chance to dream the psychotherapeutic group and to invest it in terms of representation and affects appears where the group process has elaborative capability.
Conclusions: The results seem to confirm in the context of group Bion’s hypothesis on difficulty in the psychotic condition to approach to the dream as product of mental function. Some theoretical implications on the potential of dream work, as indicator of group process, will be discussed.
Metodo: 36 richiedenti asilo uomini Nigeriani ospiti di tre CAS in Campania sono stati suddivisi random in due gruppi. Per ciascun partecipante sono stati valutati i livelli di trauma, resilienza e difficoltà post-migratorie. Al gruppo sperimentale è stata somministrata l’intervista mediata da immagini; al gruppo di controllo un’intervista non mediata da immagini. Sui dati quantitativi sono state condotte analisi descrittive; mentre le interviste sono state analizzate secondo le principali dimensioni dei processi narrativi di meaning-making (Fivush, Bohanek, Zaman, & Grapin, 2012): Stati interni, Coerenza, Insight Riflessivi. Infine, è stata condotta una MANOVA per valutare la significatività delle eventuali differenze degli indici narrativi tra i gruppi.
Risultati: Nei due gruppi emergono alti livelli di resilienza e una bassa presenza di soggetti sintomatici al PTSD. Dalle analisi descrittive, gli indici narrativi risultano maggiori nel gruppo sperimentale. La MANOVA mostra differenze statisticamente significative nel gruppo sperimentale in Stati Interni e Coerenza, dovute al solo fattore “gruppo sperimentale vs controllo” (F(8,25)=5.902, p=.000, η2 partial=.65).
Conclusione: I risultati confermano le potenzialità dell’intervista mediata da immagini nel promuovere meaning-making, incoraggiando l’utilizzo della ricerca qualitativa per la creazione di percorsi individualizzati che incontrino i bisogni dei soggetti vulnerabili.
Method: We developed and administered semi-structured interviews that were analysed accordingly to the principles of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2011; Smith & Osborn, 2008; Smith, 1995).
Results: A total of four superordinate themes emerged: The past, the case is over; The Committee as witness of my truth; Italy, Never Land; The future between agency and delegation.
Discussion: On the background of an avoidance in speaking about the past, the Territorial Committee embodied a fundamental witness function able to recognise and validate the participants’ experiences. Positive post-migratory experiences configured a resilience field able to strengthen and empower refugees’ resources as well as to restore the social and community links normally destroyed by sever traumatisation.