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Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari"

Study group on research in psychotherapy

The mission of the research group is to implement methodologies and techniques of evaluation and psychological/psychotherapeutic intervention with children and parents that can be used in health and educational contexts. Head: Elena Trombini

Areas: Psychodynamics and developmental psychopathology

Research lines of the group for the period 2019-2023 

  • Clinical assessment of psychological disorders during development
  • Parental therapeutic alliance during psychological consultation with children and parents using the ‘Participated Consultation’ method
  • Effects of early psychological support interventions for parents on child’s development
  • Efficacy of the Focal Play Therapy over parenting stress and relational parent-child dynamics in infancy’s eating and evacuation disorders
  • Mother-child relational dynamics during feeding interactions and within the contexts of prematurity
  • Dialogic Book-Sharing and its effects over children’s development
  • Trait and ability emotional intelligence and their association with psychological variables (such as anxiety, depression and social desirability) in both clinical (e.g., adults with obesity) and non-clinical samples of children, adolescents and adults.

Head

Elena Trombini, Full Professor

Members

Federica Andrei

Associate Professor

Leonardo Llewellyn Duncan De Pascalis

Associate Professor

Marco Andrea Piombo

Adjunct professor

Elena Trombini

Full Professor

ERC Sectors

  • SH4_1 Cognitive basis of human development and education, developmental disorders; comparative cognitio
  • SH4_2 Personality and social cognition; emotion
  • SH4_3 Clinical and health psychology

Scientific Disciplinary Sector: M-PSI/07

Selected publications of the group for period 2019-2023

  1. Agnoli S., Mancini G., Andrei F., & Trombini E. (2019). The relationship between trait emotional intelligence, cognition, and emotional awareness: An interpretative model. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1171. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01711
  2. Chirico I., Andrei F., Salvatori P., Malaguti I., & Trombini E. (2020). The focal play therapy: An empirical study on the parent–therapist alliance, parent–child interactions and parenting stress in a clinical sample of children and their parents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228379
  3. Bozicevic L., De Pascalis L., Montirosso R., Ferrari P.F., Giusti L., Cooper P.J., & Murray L. (2021). Sculpting culture: Early maternal responsiveness and child emotion regulation – A UK-Italy comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 52, 22–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022120971353
  4. Epifanio, M. S., Andrei, F., Mancini, G., Agostini, F., Piombo, M. A., Spicuzza, V., Riolo M., Lavanco G., Trombini E., & La Grutta, S. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures on quality of life among Italian general population. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 10, 289. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10020289
  5. Andrei, F., Mancini, G., Agostini, F., Epifanio, M.S., Piombo, M.A., Riolo, M., Spicuzza, V., Neri, E., Lo Baido, R., La Grutta, S., & Trombini, E. (2022). Quality of life and job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediation by hopelessness and moderation by trait emotional intelligence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), 2756. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052756
  6. Epifanio, M.S., La Grutta, S., Piombo, M.A., Riolo, M., Spicuzza, V., Franco, M., Mancini, G., De Pascalis, L., Trombini, E., & Andrei, F. (2023). Hopelessness and burnout in Italian healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating role of trait emotional intelligence. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1146408. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1146408

Funding for the period 2019-2023

 International Projects

  •  2019 UK Medical Research Council
    Project: BCHADS II - Psychological, social & biological predictors of child mental health and development: shared and distinctive risk and protective factors in UK & India (£2593079.62)
  • 2021 The Hugh Greenwood Legacy for Children’s Health Research
    Project: BABIES IN TUNE: An online group education and music intervention for infant colic and reflux (£16298.98)
  • 2022 The Hugh Greenwood Legacy for Children’s Health Research
    Project: The functional architecture of mother-infant communication in infants at high risk for autism: identification of early intervention targets for mitigation of autism symptom trajectories (£19,864.95)

 National Projects

  •  2020 University of Bologna Project: Avrò cura di te (I will take care of you; € 36000)
  • 2022 University of Bologna Project: Avrò cura di te (I will take care of you; € 40000)
  • 2023 European Union – Next Generation EU (PRIN 2022 – PNRR)
    Project: Focus on parents: antecedents, trajectories and role differences in parental burnout (€ 218.541)

 

 

Active National and International Collaborations for the period 2019-2023

 International collaborations

  •  Lynne Murray, University of Reading, UK
  • Peter Cooper, University of Reading, UK
  • Joseph Murray, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil
  • Pier Francesco Ferrari, CNRS, France
  • Mark Tomlinson, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
  • Helen Sharp, University of Liverpool, UK
  • Vicky Fallon, University of Liverpool, UK
  • K.V. Petrides, University College London, UK
  • Moïra Mikolajczak, University of Louvain, Belgium

 National collaborations

  •  Laboratorio di Genitorialità a rischio (Prof. Renata Tambelli), Department of Dynamic, Clinical and Health Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome
  • Laboratorio Permanente Universitario per la Prevenzione e il Contrasto alla Violenza nelle scuole e al Bullismo, cyberbullismo e sexting (Prof. Sabina La Grutta), Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo
  • Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization (Prof. Alessandra Simonelli and Dr. Marina Miscioscia), University of Padua

 Unibo collaborations

  •  Department of Informatics – Science and Engineering (Prof. Paola Salomoni and Dr. Giovanni Delnevo)
  • Department of Educational Sciences ‘Giovanni Maria Bertin’ (Prof. Giacomo Mancini and Prof.ssa Roberta Biolcati)

 

Editorial activities in the period 2019-2023

 Prof. ElenaTrombini

  • Editor for Case Reports in Clinical Medicine (CRCM)
  • Editor for Journal of Developmental and Clinical Psychology

Prof. Leonardo De Pascalis

  • Associate Editor for Frontiers in Developmental Psychology
  • Associate Editor for Frontiers in Pediatric Psychology

Federica Andrei

  • Academic Editor for PLOS ONE
  • Editor for Journal of Developmental and Clinical Psychology

 

Fellow in scientific academies and / or executive committees of scientific associations for the period 2019-2023

  • Associazione Dina Vallino (Elena Trombini: member of the Scientific board)
  • Infant Nutrition and Perinatal Wellbeing Collaborative Research Committee, University of Liverpool (Leonardo De Pascalis: member of the Scientific board)
  • Alexandra Rose Vouchers Steering Group, University of Liverpool (Leonardo De Pascalis: member of the Scientific board)