Maria Francesca Freda
Biographic Data
| ID | 88551 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maria Francesca Freda |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maria Francesca |
| FAMILY NAME | Freda |
| SIGNATURE | FREDA M F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Naples Federico II |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2529-2279 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 39 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The promotion of Self-Efficacy in the Sinapsi Academic Self-Management Training Group
Investigating changes in university students’ academic engagement and its relationships with motivation and performance
Academic engagement (AE) has been widely recognized as a key determinant to address key challenges in the academic context as the student persistence and success at university. However, previous studies have mostly measured AE using cross-sectional data, so its development over time is still unexplored. To address this research gap, we involved 209 first‐year STEM undergraduates (54% female) from April–May 2019 ( t 0) to October–November 2021 ( t…
Sensemaking Process of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent atypicalities in social communication and social interactions across different domains of life, often with restricted, repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities. A large corpus of previous research shows that parental involvement in caregiving is perceived as stressful and challenging, in many cases resultin…
Digital interventions addressing the unmet needs of older adults with multimorbidity
Background Frailty and multimorbidity in older adults require integrated, multidomain care models. Digital health solutions offer potential for improving self-management, but a structured methodology to translate the complex unmet needs of this population into tailored digital interventions is still lacking. Objectives To propose and illustrate a mixed-methods, persona-based approach for mapping unmet needs of older adults with multimorbidity to …
Associations Between Social Functioning and Indicators of University Student Engagement
Less socially adaptive behaviors have often been underestimated in university students, with limited research addressing their impact on academic functioning. This study aimed to identify distinct profiles of social functioning difficulties in university students and to examine their associations with academic engagement, learning difficulties, and psychological distress. A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted with 540 undergraduate un…
Academic Psychological Distress Scale
This study aimed to develop and validate the Academic Psychological Distress Scale (APDS) to assess psychological distress in university students across multiple domains. Two student samples ( N = 310 for exploratory factor analysis, EFA; N = 367 for confirmatory factor analysis, CFA) completed the preliminary scale alongside measures of academic and general psychological distress. EFA identified a 6-factor structure with 37 items, reduced to 25 …
A concept analysis on academic psychological distress
Affective Regulation and Trait Anger Personalities
Emotional dysregulation involving anger can have severe consequences on the individual’s psychosocial and emotional functioning. This study aimed to investigate the role that the companion animal bond and the personality dimension of trait anger play in explaining affective dysregulation. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 365 participants. Using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, a moderated model was tested to analyze the hypothesis t…
Emotions and Narrative Reappraisal Strategies of Users of Breast Cancer Screening
Emotional forecasting, meaning how a person anticipates feeling as a consequence of their choices, drives healthcare decision-making. Research, however, suggests that people often do not fully anticipate or otherwise grasp the future emotional impacts of their decisions. Emotional reappraisal strategies, such as putting emotions into words and sharing emotions with others, may mitigate potential undesirable effects of emotions on decision-making.…
A new measure for the assessment of the university engagement
Despite the growing interest on the notion of academic engagement (AE) and its relevance for students’ success, a few valid and reliable instruments on AE have been developed. Moreover, most of the available measures consider AE as a student’s trait rather than a relational and situated dynamic process. This study presents the development and validation of a new instrument, the SInAPSi Academic Engagement Scale (SAES), which was developed within …
The role of emotion regulation and intolerance to uncertainty on the relationship between fear of Covid-19 and distress
The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing negative consequences on mental health around the globe. To date, research on what psychological factors could influence individuals’ distress is still scarce. The current study aims to test a multiple mediation model to examine the role of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) and emotional regulation (i.e., expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) as joint factors, which can increase understanding of psych…
The Role and Function of Autobiographical Memory Narratives during the Emotional Processing of Breast Cancer Treatment
Breast cancer (BC) in younger age is a critical and potentially traumatic experience that can interrupt the continuity of self-narrative during a crucial phase. In the Narrative Identity framework the translation of memories into autobiographical narratives is an internal and external process that plays a key role in meaning-making, social relationships and self-coherence. The aim of this study is to examine the role and function that autobiograp…
The Sensemaking Process of Academic Inclusion Experience
Qualities of mentalization and perception of parental mirroring in a group of Italian transgender people
The Relationship between Healthcare Providers and Preventive Practices
Cancer screening programs are public health interventions beneficial to early diagnoses and timely treatments. Despite the investment of health policies in this area, many people in the recommended age groups do not participate. While the literature is mainly focused on obstacles and factors enabling access to health services, a gap from the point of view of the target population concerns healthcare providers. Within the "Miriade" research-action…
From sense to meaning
Purpose Consistent with current literature, which highlights the role of narration as a key tool for exploring the processes by which people construct the meaning of their critical experiences the authors propose a theoretical and methodological model to analyse the narratives of illness and identify any innovative aspects. The generative model of mind presented refers to a semiotic, narrative and socio-constructivist perspective according to whi…
Factors Related to Women’s Psychological Distress during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Results showed that modifiable psychological variables play a central role in predicting distress and indicated that emotion regulation interventions might be helpful in increasing psychological resilience and mitigating the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic within the female population
Modal articulation
Within a semiotic and psychodynamic frame, we present and discuss the psychological construct of modal articulation. By modality, we mean the way a subject organizes the meaning of his/her own experience according to categories of necessity, possibility, opportunity, will, knowledge, permission, and duty. Modality is a relevant topic in some branches of philosophy, logics, linguistics, and semiotics, but there is no systematic discourse about it …
The processes of meaning making, starting from the morphogenetic theories of René Thom
Each process of meaning making can be seen as a field of semiotic organization that shows a variety of continuities and discontinuities, rather than as a linear trajectory of accumulated signs, progressively articulated through syntagmatic chains. In this work, we address the idea that the sign is a discontinuous form within a field; it emerges where there are different trajectories of meaning, different epistemic positions, and different subject…
Possible use in psychology of threshold concept in order to study sensemaking processes
Manifold forms of sensemaking processes and their simultaneity pose many questions about their integration and also on their development. Human beings mean their own experience and activity in the world by forms of symbolic meaning but also by several forms of embodied meaning, in an endo-semiotic and exo-semiotic key, such as the construction of artifacts, instruments, monuments, stories, myths. The culture in this perspective is not considered …
Affective disorders and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in adolescents and young adults with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Post-Traumatic Growth in Cancer Survivors
The concept that a traumatic experience, such as a cancer, can lead to a positive change and transformation of self, life and relationships was named as post-traumatic growth (PTG). A large amount of research measured PTG in cancer survivors arguing an interpretation of the construct as an outcome. Recently, qualitative research shows different types of narrative of PTG, but the narrative markers and their functions of transformation remain still…
Reflective and Agentive Functions of Narrative Writing
Borders and Modal Articulations. Semiotic Constructs of Sensemaking Processes Enabling a Fecund Dialogue Between Cultural Psychology and Clinical Psychology
Suspended Sorrow
Objectives: We conducted a survey to obtain information concerning how mothers of children with DSD represent the diagnosis. Methods: We examined our findings through IPA methodology. Results: We observed a crisis of meaning, based on the inability to classify their child with a milestone of the social experience: the gender category. That risks of slipping into adempitive adherences to medical knowledge or hasty decisions about the health of the…
Borders and Modal Articulations. Semiotic Constructs of Sensemaking Processes Enabling a Fecund Dialogue Between Cultural Psychology and Clinical Psychology
Effects of Guided Written Disclosure Protocol on mood states and psychological symptoms among parents of off-therapy acute lymphoblastic leukemia children
This study assesses the effects of Guided Written Disclosure Protocol on psychological distress in mothers and fathers of off-therapy acute lymphoblastic leukemia children. An experimental group participated in the writing intervention with a control group subject only to test-taking standards. The Symptom Questionnaire and Profile of Mood States were administered at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up. Guided Written Disclosure Protocol h…
Understanding Continuity to Recognize Discontinuity
Health and Writing
There is literary evidence stating that expressive writing affects health outcomes. Nevertheless, the processes underlying its benefits remain unclear. In our previous article, we described the benefits of writing; in this article, we investigate the meaning-making processes underlying the traumatic experiences of parents of children with leukemia in off-therapy. We collected the writings of 23 parents and grouped them according to the parents' p…
From sense to meaning
Purpose Consistent with current literature, which highlights the role of narration as a key tool for exploring the processes by which people construct the meaning of their critical experiences the authors propose a theoretical and methodological model to analyse the narratives of illness and identify any innovative aspects. The generative model of mind presented refers to a semiotic, narrative and socio-constructivist perspective according to whi…
Reflective and Agentive Functions of Narrative Writing
Emotions and Narrative Reappraisal Strategies of Users of Breast Cancer Screening
Emotional forecasting, meaning how a person anticipates feeling as a consequence of their choices, drives healthcare decision-making. Research, however, suggests that people often do not fully anticipate or otherwise grasp the future emotional impacts of their decisions. Emotional reappraisal strategies, such as putting emotions into words and sharing emotions with others, may mitigate potential undesirable effects of emotions on decision-making.…
Post-Traumatic Growth in Cancer Survivors
The concept that a traumatic experience, such as a cancer, can lead to a positive change and transformation of self, life and relationships was named as post-traumatic growth (PTG). A large amount of research measured PTG in cancer survivors arguing an interpretation of the construct as an outcome. Recently, qualitative research shows different types of narrative of PTG, but the narrative markers and their functions of transformation remain still…
Understanding Continuity to Recognize Discontinuity
Effects of Guided Written Disclosure Protocol on mood states and psychological symptoms among parents of off-therapy acute lymphoblastic leukemia children
This study assesses the effects of Guided Written Disclosure Protocol on psychological distress in mothers and fathers of off-therapy acute lymphoblastic leukemia children. An experimental group participated in the writing intervention with a control group subject only to test-taking standards. The Symptom Questionnaire and Profile of Mood States were administered at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up. Guided Written Disclosure Protocol h…
Making sense of risk diagnosis in case of prenatal and reproductive genetic counselling for neuromuscular diseases
This study explored the processes of significance about the risk communication in prenatal/preconception setting within 1 month to the end of genetic counselling intervention. Participants were all attending a programme of Cardiomyology and Medical Genetics in Naples, Italy, for the first time. Transcripts of 18 semi-structured interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Themes arising included the following: the fami…
Suspended Sorrow
Objectives: We conducted a survey to obtain information concerning how mothers of children with DSD represent the diagnosis. Methods: We examined our findings through IPA methodology. Results: We observed a crisis of meaning, based on the inability to classify their child with a milestone of the social experience: the gender category. That risks of slipping into adempitive adherences to medical knowledge or hasty decisions about the health of the…
Health and Writing
There is literary evidence stating that expressive writing affects health outcomes. Nevertheless, the processes underlying its benefits remain unclear. In our previous article, we described the benefits of writing; in this article, we investigate the meaning-making processes underlying the traumatic experiences of parents of children with leukemia in off-therapy. We collected the writings of 23 parents and grouped them according to the parents' p…
The processes of meaning making, starting from the morphogenetic theories of René Thom
Each process of meaning making can be seen as a field of semiotic organization that shows a variety of continuities and discontinuities, rather than as a linear trajectory of accumulated signs, progressively articulated through syntagmatic chains. In this work, we address the idea that the sign is a discontinuous form within a field; it emerges where there are different trajectories of meaning, different epistemic positions, and different subject…
Possible use in psychology of threshold concept in order to study sensemaking processes
Manifold forms of sensemaking processes and their simultaneity pose many questions about their integration and also on their development. Human beings mean their own experience and activity in the world by forms of symbolic meaning but also by several forms of embodied meaning, in an endo-semiotic and exo-semiotic key, such as the construction of artifacts, instruments, monuments, stories, myths. The culture in this perspective is not considered …
Affective disorders and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in adolescents and young adults with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Post-Traumatic Growth in Cancer Survivors
The concept that a traumatic experience, such as a cancer, can lead to a positive change and transformation of self, life and relationships was named as post-traumatic growth (PTG). A large amount of research measured PTG in cancer survivors arguing an interpretation of the construct as an outcome. Recently, qualitative research shows different types of narrative of PTG, but the narrative markers and their functions of transformation remain still…
Reflective and Agentive Functions of Narrative Writing
Borders and Modal Articulations. Semiotic Constructs of Sensemaking Processes Enabling a Fecund Dialogue Between Cultural Psychology and Clinical Psychology
Modal articulation
Within a semiotic and psychodynamic frame, we present and discuss the psychological construct of modal articulation. By modality, we mean the way a subject organizes the meaning of his/her own experience according to categories of necessity, possibility, opportunity, will, knowledge, permission, and duty. Modality is a relevant topic in some branches of philosophy, logics, linguistics, and semiotics, but there is no systematic discourse about it …
Factors Related to Women’s Psychological Distress during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Results showed that modifiable psychological variables play a central role in predicting distress and indicated that emotion regulation interventions might be helpful in increasing psychological resilience and mitigating the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic within the female population
The Sensemaking Process of Academic Inclusion Experience
Qualities of mentalization and perception of parental mirroring in a group of Italian transgender people
The Relationship between Healthcare Providers and Preventive Practices
Cancer screening programs are public health interventions beneficial to early diagnoses and timely treatments. Despite the investment of health policies in this area, many people in the recommended age groups do not participate. While the literature is mainly focused on obstacles and factors enabling access to health services, a gap from the point of view of the target population concerns healthcare providers. Within the "Miriade" research-action…
From sense to meaning
Purpose Consistent with current literature, which highlights the role of narration as a key tool for exploring the processes by which people construct the meaning of their critical experiences the authors propose a theoretical and methodological model to analyse the narratives of illness and identify any innovative aspects. The generative model of mind presented refers to a semiotic, narrative and socio-constructivist perspective according to whi…
A new measure for the assessment of the university engagement
Despite the growing interest on the notion of academic engagement (AE) and its relevance for students’ success, a few valid and reliable instruments on AE have been developed. Moreover, most of the available measures consider AE as a student’s trait rather than a relational and situated dynamic process. This study presents the development and validation of a new instrument, the SInAPSi Academic Engagement Scale (SAES), which was developed within …
The role of emotion regulation and intolerance to uncertainty on the relationship between fear of Covid-19 and distress
The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing negative consequences on mental health around the globe. To date, research on what psychological factors could influence individuals’ distress is still scarce. The current study aims to test a multiple mediation model to examine the role of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) and emotional regulation (i.e., expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) as joint factors, which can increase understanding of psych…
The Role and Function of Autobiographical Memory Narratives during the Emotional Processing of Breast Cancer Treatment
Breast cancer (BC) in younger age is a critical and potentially traumatic experience that can interrupt the continuity of self-narrative during a crucial phase. In the Narrative Identity framework the translation of memories into autobiographical narratives is an internal and external process that plays a key role in meaning-making, social relationships and self-coherence. The aim of this study is to examine the role and function that autobiograp…
A concept analysis on academic psychological distress
Affective Regulation and Trait Anger Personalities
Emotional dysregulation involving anger can have severe consequences on the individual’s psychosocial and emotional functioning. This study aimed to investigate the role that the companion animal bond and the personality dimension of trait anger play in explaining affective dysregulation. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 365 participants. Using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, a moderated model was tested to analyze the hypothesis t…
Emotions and Narrative Reappraisal Strategies of Users of Breast Cancer Screening
Emotional forecasting, meaning how a person anticipates feeling as a consequence of their choices, drives healthcare decision-making. Research, however, suggests that people often do not fully anticipate or otherwise grasp the future emotional impacts of their decisions. Emotional reappraisal strategies, such as putting emotions into words and sharing emotions with others, may mitigate potential undesirable effects of emotions on decision-making.…
Digital interventions addressing the unmet needs of older adults with multimorbidity
Background Frailty and multimorbidity in older adults require integrated, multidomain care models. Digital health solutions offer potential for improving self-management, but a structured methodology to translate the complex unmet needs of this population into tailored digital interventions is still lacking. Objectives To propose and illustrate a mixed-methods, persona-based approach for mapping unmet needs of older adults with multimorbidity to …
Associations Between Social Functioning and Indicators of University Student Engagement
Less socially adaptive behaviors have often been underestimated in university students, with limited research addressing their impact on academic functioning. This study aimed to identify distinct profiles of social functioning difficulties in university students and to examine their associations with academic engagement, learning difficulties, and psychological distress. A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted with 540 undergraduate un…
Psychology (25 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Developmental psychology (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Narrative (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Psychiatry (8 works) · Psychotherapist (8 works)