Donatella Ferrante

The rapid digitalization of work and daily life has introduced a wide range of online threats, from common hazards such as malware and phishing to emerging challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI). While technical aspects of cybersecurity have received extensive attention, less is known about how individuals perceive digital risks and how these perceptions shape protective behaviors. Building on the psychometric paradigm, this study investigated the perception of seven digital threats among a sample of 300 Italian workers employed in IT and non-IT sectors. Participants rated each hazard on dread and unknown risk dimensions and reported their cybersecurity expertise. Optimism bias and proactive awareness were also detected. Cluster analyses revealed four profiles based on different levels of dread and unknown risk ratings. The four profiles also differed in reported levels of expertise, optimism bias, and proactive awareness. Notably, AI was perceived as the least familiar and most uncertain hazard across groups, underscoring its salience in shaping digital risk perceptions. These findings highlight the heterogeneity of digital risk perception and suggest that tailored communication and training strategies, rather than one-size-fits-all approaches, are essential to fostering safer online practices.

Background: Work addiction is a contemporary addiction affecting 8.3% to 22% of individuals in Europe, leading to detrimental effects on relationships, work-family balance, and overall well-being. Given its prevalence and impact, standardized assessment tools are crucial for distinguishing between work addiction and healthy work engagement. Methods: This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Work Addiction Risk Test (WART). A convenience sample of 700 workers from Northeastern and Southern Italy completed the Italian version of the WART along with other well-being at work and personality measures. Results:Exploratory factor analysis revealed a five-factor structure of the WART, partially overlapping with the original version. Despite some weaknesses in the factor structure, the WART demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, including internal consistency and associations with organizational and personality correlates of work addiction. Conclusions: The Italian version of the WART is a reliable tool for assessing work addiction risk among Italian workers. This tool can aid in identifying individuals at risk and facilitating early intervention and support. Future research should focus on further validating the factor structure and exploring the utility of the WART indifferent cultural and occupational contexts.

The Perceived Occupational Stress (POS) scale has been recently developed to measure workers’ perception of feeling stressed at work. This cross-sectional study aimed to further study the practical applicability of the POS scale by testing its diagnostic utility for identifying workers with severe somatic symptom strain. A sample of 171 Italian workers filled out a survey containing the POS and the short form of the Giessen Subjective Complaints List (GBB-8). The POS scale was strongly associated with the GBB-8 ( r = .70, p < .001; β = .71, p < .001), and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed its excellent diagnostic accuracy (area under the curve, AUC = .83, p < .001), with a POS value of 3.50 being the optimal cut-off for detecting severe somatic symptoms. Overall, the results show that the POS scale is an economic and non-intrusive tool for identifying workers at high risk of severe psychosomatic strain. Limitations of this study include the use of self-report measures and of a convenience sample, which could lead to common method and selection biases. Future research should re-evaluate the predictive usefulness of the POS scale as a predictor of other outcomes of work-related stress such as anxiety and depression, performance, and turnover intentions.

Background: The assessment of work-related stress is mandatory in Italy, according to Legislative Decree 81/2008. The Academic Teacher Stress Indicator Tool (ATS-IT) was developed to address stress in academic teaching staff by adapting the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool (HSE-MS IT). Methods: An online ATS-IT survey was administered to all teaching staff at the University of Trieste, yielding 334 valid responses. The survey also included a measure of psychosomatic complaints and demographic questions. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the six-factor structure, and reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha.Results: CFA confirmed an excellent fit for the six-factor structure (CFI = .99; TLI = .99; RMSEA = .034). Reliability analysis mainly showed acceptable values (Cronbach’s α ranging from .66 to .91). Significant gender differences were found in the Demands and Control scales, with additional differences based on age and academic role across multiple scales. The ATIS-IT scales were significantly intercorrelated and negatively correlated with psychosomatic complaints. Conclusions: The ATS-IT demonstrates good potential as a valid and reliable instrument for assessing work-related stress among Italian academic teaching staff. Its use can facilitate better stress management and intervention strategies in educational institutions.

This study presents and validates the Italian adaptation of the Dark Tetrad at Work (DTW) scale, an instrument for assessing four socially aversive personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and sadism) in the context of the workplace. A total of 300 Italian-speaking participants (50% female, M age = 32 years ± 9.2) and 253 English-speaking participants (38% female, M age = 39 years ± 12.1) were recruited via an online survey platform. The Italian-speaking sample was used to test the factorial structure, reliability and criterion-related validity of the Italian version of the DTW, whereas the English-speaking sample was used to test cross-language measurement invariance. Results from confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original four-factor model provided the best fit to the data. The Italian DTW scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with reliability coefficients of ω = .77 for narcissism, ω = .80 for Machiavellianism, and ω = .81 for both psychopathy and sadism. Concurrent associations between the DTW scales and negative and positive workplace outcomes supported the criterion validity of the scale. Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism positively correlated with counterproductive work behaviors and workplace bullying, and negatively with organizational citizenship behaviors and affective organizational commitment. In contrast, narcissism exhibited a unique pattern: It correlated positively with positive workplace behaviors and negatively with counterproductive behaviors toward the organization, but it was also found to be a significant predictor of workplace bullying. This finding may reflect multidimensional nature of narcissism, but a note of caution is warranted in interpreting this result, as all measurements relied on self-report instruments, introducing the possibility of socially desirable associations influencing the outcomes. Finally, the comparison with the English sample established configural, full metric and partial scale invariance, allowing for valid cross-language comparisons between Italian and English-speaking populations in the future. Preliminary Italian normative data were provided to offer a benchmark for the interpretation of DTW values. This study provides a reliable and valid instrument tailored to the Italian workforce, enhancing our understanding of dark personality traits within organizational contexts and providing organizations with an effective means to address and manage dark personality traits for a healthier workplace culture.

Do we look at persons currently or previously affected by COVID-19 the same way as we do with healthy ones? In this eye-tracking study, we investigated how participants (N= 54) looked at faces of individuals presented as “COVID-19 Free”, “Sick with COVID-19”, or “Recovered from COVID-19”. Results showed that participants tend to look at the eyes of COVID-19-free faces longer than at those of both COVID-19-related faces. Crucially, we also found an increase of visual attention for the mouth of the COVID-19-related faces, possibly due to the threatening characterisation of such area as a transmission vehicle for SARS-CoV-2. Thus, by detailing how people dynamically changed the way of looking at faces as a function of the perceived risk of contagion, we provide the first evidence in the literature about the impact of the pandemic on the most basic level of social interaction.

Depression depends on risk factors such as loneliness, low self-esteem, and perceived stress when inter-individual differences are investigated in the long run. Depression, however, oscillates within-person over short-time periods as well, but there is a lack of evidence on its temporary correlates. The present study explored how transitory feelings of depression covariate with states of loneliness, stress, and self-esteem at the within-person level, further inspecting how inter-individual differences contribute to understanding intra-individual dynamics. Seventy-four adults (M = 33 years) took part in the study and reported on daily depression, stress, loneliness, and self-esteem for eight successive evenings. The main results showed that within-person fluctuations in depression depended on transient changes in loneliness, self-esteem, and stress, with stress further moderating the depression-self-esteem association; the link between depression and its predictors was reciprocal; inter-individual differences in depression instability across the assessment occasions enhanced the effect of transitory loneliness on feelings of depression. The present findings revealed that within-person associations for depression reflect correlation patterns between people, further highlighting how an individual’s instability in depressive states is relevant for understanding who is more vulnerable to transitory depressive states, which might develop into trait-like conditions over longer time periods.

Brief interventions delivered in primary health care are effective in reducing excessive drinking; online behavior-changing technique interventions may be helpful. Physicians may actively encourage the use of such interventions by helping patients access selected websites (a process known as "facilitated access"). Although the therapeutic working alliance plays a significant role in the achievement of positive outcomes in face-to-face psychotherapy and its development has been shown to be feasible online, little research has been done on its impact on brief interventions. Strengthening patients' perception of their physician's endorsement of a website could facilitate the development of an effective alliance between the patient and the app. We describe the implementation of a digitally mediated personal physician presence to enhance patient engagement with an alcohol-reduction website as part of the experimental online intervention in a noninferiority randomized controlled trial. We also report the feedback of the users on the module. The Download Your Doctor module was created to simulate the personal physician presence for an alcohol-reduction website that was developed for the EFAR-FVG trial conducted in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. The module was designed to enhance therapeutic alliance and thus improve outcomes in the intervention group (facilitated access to the website). Participating general and family practitioners could customize messages and visual elements and upload a personal photo, signature, and video recordings. To assess the perceptions and attitudes of the physicians, a semistructured interview was carried out 3 months after the start of the trial. Participating patients were invited to respond to a short online questionnaire 12 months following recruitment to investigate their evaluation of their online experiences. Nearly three-quarters (23/32, 72%) of the physicians interviewed chose to customize the contents of the interaction with their patients using the provided features and acknowledged the ease of use of the online tools. The majority of physicians (21/32, 57%) customized at least the introductory photo and video. Barriers to usage among those who did not customize the contents were time restrictions, privacy concerns, difficulties in using the tools, and considering the approach not useful. Over half (341/620, 55.0%) of participating patients completed the optional questionnaire. Many of them (240/341, 70.4%) recalled having noticed the personalized elements of their physicians, and the majority of those (208/240, 86.7%) reacted positively, considering the personalization to be of either high or the highest importance. The use of a digitally mediated personal physician presence online was both feasible and welcomed by both patients and physicians. Training of the physicians seems to be a key factor in addressing perceived barriers to usage. Further research is recommended to study the mechanisms behind this approach and its impact. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT 01638338; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01638338 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6f0JLZMtq).