Carlo Tomasetto

Research on work with survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) has primarily focused on its emotional burden and implications for practitioners’ well-being. This study explores how professionals working in GBV services experience and make sense of their work, drawing on 23 interviews analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants’ accounts revealed challenges related to the persistence of GBV and sexism in society and to job precarity, but also highlighted the meaning they attribute to their work as a political commitment to supporting women and contributing to social change. The findings underscore the importance of understanding practitioners’ well-being within the broader social and political context of GBV work.

This chapter explores the phenomenon of secondary victimisation in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. In particular, we focus on secondary victimisation perpetrated by service providers, such as law enforcement or social workers. After a brief review of the literature on secondary victimisation, we reflect on the potential of adopting a Community Psychology perspective, with particular attention to its contribution to the empowerment of IPV victims. Our discussion builds on a case study by Albanesi et al. (2021 ), which employed the Empowerment Process Model for domestic violence practice, research, and evaluation developed by Cattaneo and Goodman (2015). This model was used to examine the experiences of women who have survived violence, shedding light on both their empowerment journey and the secondary victimisation they encountered. We conclude by highlighting the need for a multilevel, intersectional approach to address this phenomenon – one that involves individuals, professionals, organisations and policymakers, considering the different ecological layers that shape such experiences. Empowering victims/survivors is not only essential for their personal well-being but also a key driver of broader social justice and collective transformation.

This study assessed knowledge and awareness of developmental dyscalculia among education professionals in the UK, Italy, Vietnam and South Africa, using the newly developed Dyscalculia Knowledge and Awareness Scale (DKAS). In total, 1323 educators responded to the DKAS as well as questions relating to their job roles, level of experience, and training received in supporting pupils with dyscalculia and dyslexia. Overall, most educators were familiar with the concept of dyscalculia, but only 33% reported that they had a clear idea about it. Responses to the DKAS also revealed several knowledge gaps and misconceptions. Our study also documented the low availability of training in dyscalculia, with most educators not receiving any relevant training. Higher levels of education, working in specialist inclusion and support roles, and access to relevant training were positively related to knowledge and awareness of dyscalculia. These findings have important implications for research, teacher education and education policy.

Research has shown that sports‐based programmes are particularly effective in addressing socially vulnerable youth. Few studies, however, have adopted a community psychology perspective to analyse sports‐based programmes taking place in public spaces, where the presence of youth is often perceived as problematic. This work illustrates a street outreach, Youth‐led participatory action research‐oriented programme based on street soccer, aimed at promoting positive development and relationships with the community in a group of socially vulnerable young adults in Northeastern Italy. Data were collected through participant observation, interviews with youth workers and local stakeholders, analysis of local press, and a focus group with the youth involved. Results showed that the programme fostered a sense of acknowledgment and belonging to the community and the place for the participants, and enhanced their personal and interpersonal skills, self‐efficacy and responsibility. It also promoted positive interactions with local institutions and the community and reduced the youths' stereotyped representation in public opinion. These outcomes highlight the potential of participatory approaches and the use of public spaces in sports‐based programmes for socially vulnerable youth. Implications are provided for designing and implementing similar projects in the future, informed by field research and the perspective of the participants. Please refer to the section to find this article's community and social impact statement.

Based on data for N = 2,756 children (1,410 girls; M_age = 8.10 years) from 16 data sets spanning five nations, this study investigated relations between national gender disparities and children's beliefs about gender and academic subjects. One national-level gender disparity involved inequalities in socioeconomic standing favoring adult males over females (U.N. Human Development Index). The other involved national-level gaps in standardized math achievement, favoring boys over girls (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study Grade 4). Three novel findings emerged. First, girls' results from a Child Implicit Association Test showed that implicit associations linking boys with math and girls with reading were positively related to both national male advantages in socioeconomic standing and national boy advantages in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Second, these relations were obtained for implicit but not explicit measures of children's beliefs linking gender and academic subjects. Third, implicit associations linking gender to academic subjects increased significantly as a function of children's age. We propose a psychological account of why national gender disparities are likely to influence children's developing implicit associations about gender and academic subjects, especially for girls. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Although it is well established that students' adaptive reactions towards errors promote learning outcomes, little is still known about the role of error feedback in promoting these reactions. Aim: Through a targeted intervention based on an online teaching unit, this study aimed at testing whether supportive error feedback promotes more adaptive students' reactions towards errors and higher learning outcomes. Sample: A total of 250 ( M _age = 12.18, SD = .89; 46.4% girls) Italian middle school students took part in the intervention. Students were randomly assigned to either a discouraging error feedback condition ( n = 124) or a supportive error feedback condition ( n = 126). Method: The intervention consisted of an online teaching unit, which students filled in at home, that was divided into pre‐test, intervention and post‐test phases. During the intervention, students replied to training questions and every time they made an error, informative feedback appeared: supportive smileys and sentences in the supportive feedback condition, and disappointed smileys and sentences in the discouraging feedback condition. Before the intervention, students filled in the pre‐test and after the intervention, students reported their reactions towards errors and filled in the post‐test. Results: Receiving supportive feedback resulted in more adaptive affective‐motivational reactions towards errors, which in turn were related to more adaptive action reactions towards errors. Differently from our expectations, action reactions towards errors were not related to the post‐test scores. Conclusions: Our findings can inform the development of online teaching units that promote an error‐oriented approach.

Previous research has yielded conflicting evidence as regards the benefits of interpreting training on the development of cognitive processes involved in simultaneous interpreting. In this longitudinal study, we examined the changes in memory and inhibition profiles of two cohorts of interpreting students (study group) and two cohorts of translation students (control group) across three (cohort 1) or two measurement sessions (cohort 2) over their Master’s courses. Results from linear mixed effects models (LME) showed that performance improved for both groups on all measures except for inhibition, but no significant differences between groups in the rate of change were observed. Interpreting students displayed an advantage in inhibition and associative memory already at baseline. Overall, findings suggest that the changes in memory and inhibition profiles of interpreting students may not be related to academic training in interpreting and students with advantages in inhibition and associative memory may self-select for interpreting training.

The stereotype threat theory has been one of the leading conceptual frameworks adopted by social and educational psychologists to explain why members of stigmatised groups systematically underperform and are at risk of withdrawal in academic settings. Much stereotype threat research, as well as recent criticisms on strengths and limitations of the extant stereotype threat literature, has focused on the impact of negative stereotypes about girls’ and women’s ability in mathematics. However, evidence of stereotype threat susceptibility has emerged across a host of stigmatised groups and in relation to a variety of challenging ability domains. In this chapter, research highlighting stereotype threat effects related to stigmatising health conditions will be explored, with a special focus on the consequences of low-academic and cognitive competence stereotypes attached to adults and children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), physical disability, and obesity. Implications for future research on stigmatised identities and academic achievement are discussed.