Publications by authors named "Silvana Zaffani"

Aims: New technology has been reported as a factor driving people to choose an automatic insulin delivery system (AIDs) and to sustain its acceptance. We aimed to explore the role of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology (instant scanning vs. real-time) and insulin treatment modality to determine the future acceptance of AIDs among T1D individuals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to create a questionnaire that evaluates how likely individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are to accept Automatic Insulin Delivery systems (AIDs), focusing on their usefulness, ease of use, and trust in the technology.
  • A comprehensive questionnaire was developed using a 5-point Likert scale and completed by 239 participants, including children and their parents, demonstrating excellent reliability and agreement in their responses about AIDs.
  • The results showed a positive acceptance level of AIDs among both youths and parents, with parents generally recognizing more benefits, indicating the tool could be useful for clinicians and researchers in assessing the acceptance of these insulin delivery systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The onset of chronic diseases in childhood represents a stressful event for both young patients and their caregivers. In this context, coping strategies play a fundamental role in dealing with illness-related challenges. Although numerous studies have explored coping strategies employed by parents of children with chronic diseases, there remains a gap in the understanding of children's coping strategies and their correlation with their and their parents' anxiety.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Chronic illnesses like type 1 diabetes and cancer in children are linked to poorer sleep quality, impacting both the children’s and their caregivers' psychological and physical health.
  • * The study involved 150 participants (56 with T1D, 33 with cancer, and 61 healthy) who completed surveys about sleep disturbances, anxiety, and well-being.
  • * Results showed that children with cancer had the worst sleep quality, which negatively affected their psychological adjustment, while their caregivers also experienced higher anxiety and sleep issues related to their children's sleep problems.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many families had to manage new difficulties, especially those of chronically ill children. More and more research has focused on the negative effects of the pandemic on psychological wellbeing, while less is known about the resources. The present study aimed to explore the role of time spent with mothers in chronically ill children's populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study examined the transition from pediatric to adult care for young adults with type 1 diabetes, focusing on clinical, socio-demographic, and psychosocial factors and their association with HbA values at the time of transition.
  • - In the "Verona Diabetes Transition Project," 222 young adults participated, and the time between pediatric and adult visits decreased over the years, highlighting improvements in the transition process.
  • - Results indicated that female participants had higher HbA values and more issues with eating disorders and diabetes acceptance compared to males, suggesting that lower acceptance of diabetes may impact glucose control during the transition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • In March 2020, the Italian Government enforced home confinement due to COVID-19, prompting a study on its impact on children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) and their caregivers.
  • The study involved 71 children (ages 7-13) and assessed their psychological well-being, anxiety levels, and medical data before and after the lockdown, revealing significant changes in their health and emotional states.
  • Findings indicated 32.9% of children experienced clinically relevant separation anxiety, linked to factors such as younger age, female gender, newer T1D diagnosis, poorer metabolic control, and increased fear of COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

(1) : In the context of a child with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), the rearrangement of the family's lifestyle can account for an increased risk of experiencing psychosocial problems for both child and parents. Those few studies on pediatric diabetes, which focused on parents' perception of children's psychological strengths and weaknesses, reported significantly higher rates of children's emotional and conduct problems associated with an imbalance in the Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). The main aim of this paper was to assess the role of parental perception of children's psychosocial symptoms as a mediator of the perceived parenting stress, considering mother and father separately.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To determine how Italian parents and school personnel of 6-13-year-old children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) manage during school hours, including insulin administration, management of hypoglycemia, and glucagon use. A further aim was an investigation into the responsibilities and training of school personnel regarding diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: After an initial qualitative phase, semi-structured questionnaires were completed by a sample of parents and teachers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to analyse behaviours and patient-physician relationship about phytotherapy among a sample of Italian patients on warfarin therapy for atrial fibrillation.

Methods: During a 4-month study period, interviews of patients on warfarin therapy, followed regularly in the medical laboratories to monitor INR values, were conducted on the basis of a pre-structured 25-item questionnaire.

Results: Among a study population of 294 patients, 69 subjects reported to have been taking one or more phytotherapic products in the last year in combination with warfarin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Overuse of antibiotics for children is widespread and contributes to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Moreover, non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often overprescribed despite of their renal and gastrointestinal side-effects.

Objectives: To assess the behaviour and the factors influencing the prescribing practice of family pediatricians for the common upper respiratory diseases of pre-school children in an outpatient setting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The use of phytotherapy is growing worldwide, but the popular perception is that this kind of approach is natural and therefore safer than traditional medicine; for this reason the use is frequently not communicated to the doctor. Instead, even if many herbal remedies are benign in nature, some of these therapies have potentially harmful side effects or adverse interactions with other medications. So, the purpose of our study was to analyze the behavior patterns and decision-making modalities about herbal remedy use among a sample of Italian women.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Since the approach of the general population to phytomedicine is that the therapy therapy is natural and therefore safe, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the use of herbal compounds, alone or in combination with traditional drugs, and the appearance of side-effects among a sample of Italian women.

Methods: Our research was conducted over a 5-month period in the outpatient ambulatories of an urban university general hospital. The sample population consisted of women who were interviewed about phytotherapy use on the basis of a pre-structured questionnaire.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: For many families and their children, the use of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) is an accepted adjunct or alternative to conventional therapy, even if data available in the literature regarding risks and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) pertaining to childhood populations are scarce. Moreover, despite widespread and increasing use of CAM, there are limited data on how paediatricians communicate with mothers and/or patients about CAM. Therefore, we report the studies available in the literature in the paediatric field and summarise what is known about ADRs and risks of CAM, taking into account in particular problems related to interactions between phytotherapy and conventional medicines and to counselling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF