Linda Lombi | Catholic University of Milan (original) (raw)

Papers by Linda Lombi

Sociology of Health and Illness, 2023

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical practice is spreading, especially in t... more The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical practice is spreading, especially in technologically dense fields such as radiology, which could consequently undergo profound transformations in the near future. This article aims to qualitatively explore the potential influence of AI technologies on the professional identity of radiologists. Drawing on 12 in-depth interviews with a subgroup of radiologists who participated in a larger study, this article investigated: 1) whether radiologists perceived AI as a threat to their decision-making autonomy; and 2) how radiologists perceived the future of their profession compared to other healthcare professions. The findings revealed that while AI did not generally affect radiologists’ decision-making autonomy, it threatened their professional and epistemic authority. Two discursive strategies were identified to explain these findings. The first strategy emphasised radiologists’ specific expertise and knowledge that extends beyond interpreting images, a task performed with high accuracy by AI machines. The second strategy underscored the fostering of radiologists’ professional prestige through developing expertise in using AI technologies, a skill that would distinguish them from other clinicians who did not poses this knowledge. This study identifies AI machines as status objects and useful tools in performing boundary work in and around the radiological profession.

Sociological Forum , 2023

The increasing access to online health information and the use of this information for self-medic... more The increasing access to online health information and the use of this information for self-medication or self-diagnosis can foster a discounting of the epistemic authority of experts, as well as an over-reliance on laypersons’ expertise. However, the emerging cognitive bias—the overconfidence effect—is poorly investigated in the sociological field. This study offers a novel contribution to the role of overconfidence bias in online health information-seeking behavior and self-care practices. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey on a sample of 783 Italian university students. Univariate linear regression and stepwise multiple linear regression analysis were performed on the collected data. The findings suggest that overconfidence and self-care practices are predictors of health information seeking online. The multiple linear regression model revealed that the association between overconfidence bias and online health information seeking is mediated by self-care behaviors. Therefore, the overconfidence effect influences health information seeking to the extent that the search for information is aimed at self-care practices. This study could trigger further research on implementing the overconfidence effect and self-care in theoretical models of health information seeking.
KEYWORDS:e-health literacy; health information seeking; lay-expert; overconfidence bias; self-care;trust

European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 2023

There is increasing interest in integrating electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PROs) into cl... more There is increasing interest in integrating electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PROs) into clinical routines in cancer settings. However, little is known about patients' experiences with and perceptions of e-PRO measures (e-PROMs). This study examines patients' experiences with e-PROMS, particularly their perspectives about its usefulness and its implications for the clinical encounter with their doctors. Method: A total of 19 individual in-person interviews with cancer patients at a Comprehensive Cancer Center in northern Italy conducted in 2021 inform this study. Results: The findings suggested that, overall, patients had positive attitudes towards data collection using e-PROMs. On the one hand, most patients found the integration of e-PROMs into routine clinical practice as beneficial in treating patients with cancer. The main benefits of e-PROMs according to this group of patients were that: they promoted patient-centred care; could be used to tailor and improve the quality of care through a holistic approach; supported early detection of problematic symptoms; increased patient self-awareness; and contributed to clinical research. On the other hand, many patients did not fully understand the purpose of e-PROMs and some patients were also sceptical about their usefulness in routine clinical practice. Conclusions: These findings have several practical implications for ensuring the successful implementation of e-PROMs in routine clinical practice. These include the following preconditions: patients are informed about the purposes of data collection; physicians provide feedback to patients about the e-PROMs' results; and that hospital administrators allocate sufficient time for clinical interactions to integrate e-PROMs into routine clinical practice.

Healthcare

Traditionally, medical care and research in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been conducted through ... more Traditionally, medical care and research in Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been conducted through in-person visit. The recent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly impacted the delivery of in-person clinical care. We conducted an online survey to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on access to telehealth care, interviewing both PD patients and neurologists. Survey responses were collected from 1 March to 31 May 2021 through an anonymous, self-reported questionnaire, on the ‘Qualtrics’ platform. In total, 197 patients and 42 neurologists completed the survey. In our sample, 37.56% of PD patients and 88.10% of neurologists reported having used alternatives to in-person visits, while 13.70% of PD patients and 40.48% of neurologists used telemedicine. Data showed that respondents were generally satisfied with the use of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relational dimension between patient and neurologist seems to be the factor that most positively affe...

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 2020

Background Listening to “patient voices” in terms of symptoms, emotional status and experiences w... more Background Listening to “patient voices” in terms of symptoms, emotional status and experiences with care, is crucial for patient empowerment in clinical practice. Despite convincing evidence that routine patient reported outcomes and experience measurements (PRMs) with rapid feed-back to oncologists can improve symptom control, patient well-being and cost effectiveness, PRMs are not commonly used in cancer care, due to barriers at various level. Part of these barriers may be overcome through electronic PRMs collection (ePRMs) integrated with the electronic medical record (EMR). The PATIENT VOICES initiative is aimed at achieving a stepwise integration of ePRMs assessment into routine cancer care. The feasibility project presented here is aimed at assessing the knowledge, use and attitudes toward PRMs in a comprehensive cancer centre; developing and assessing feasibility of a flexible system for ePRM assessment; identifying barriers to and developing strategies for implementation an...

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021

The objective of this cross-sectional study is to analyze the changes in physical activity (PA) p... more The objective of this cross-sectional study is to analyze the changes in physical activity (PA) practice of a sample of 2099 French adults, mostly females, who answered an online questionnaire during the first COVID-19 lockdown (March–May 2020). A descriptive analysis of participants was performed using relative frequencies. Chi-squared tests were performed to compare the responses of selected variables. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to compare the variations of PA with all the variables identified. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 88. Among people who practiced PAs before the first lockdown, the probability to keep practicing PAs is higher among those with a lower level of education, among housewives and retirees and among those who lived in cities of 10,000–19,999 inhabitants. For those who did not practice PAs before the social distancing, the probability of starting to practice is greater in those with a lower level of education and for those who suffe...

SALUTE E SOCIETÀ, 2019

Crowdsourcing is an approach to accomplishing a task by opening up its completion to broad sectio... more Crowdsourcing is an approach to accomplishing a task by opening up its completion to broad sections of the public (the \u201ccrowd\u201d). Moving to the medical field, Crowdsourced health research studies have arisen as a natural extension of the grown of platforms in which sick people ask for receiving advices and help from clinical or lay experts. The spread of crowdsourcing medicine allows researchers to engage thousands of people to provide either data with lower cost and higher rapidity, giving a fundamental contribution to the spread of 4P medicine model (predictive, preventive, personalised, and participatory medicine). This article focuses on the present and future scenario of the crowdsourcing medicine. It describes some experiences and platforms, considering the pros and cons from the point of view both of patients and researchers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Sociology of Health and Illness , 2021

Evidence is accumulating of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public healt... more Evidence is accumulating of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health measures on mental health. In this emergent field, there has been little research into the role of risk perception on depressive symptoms and the contribution of health-care resources to model risk perception and mental health. The aim of this paper is to describe the relationship between individual-level perception of risk and depression, controlling for a set of confounders and for country-level heterogeneity. A cross-sectional and observational online survey was conducted using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. We use data on 11,340 respondents, living in six European countries (Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Poland, Czech Republic) who completed survey questionnaires during the first months of the pandemic. We used a fixed-effect approach, which included individual and macro-level variables. The findings suggest that a high proportion of people suffering from depression and heightened risk perception is positively associated with reporting depressive symptoms, even if this relationship varies significantly between countries. Moreover, the association is moderated by contextual factors including health-care expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, hospital beds for acute care, and number of medical specialists per head of population. Investment in health care offers a concrete means of protecting the mental health of a population living under pandemic restrictions.

Italian Sociological Review , 2019

In a cultural context where ludopathy is a social phenomenon built through normative and medical ... more In a cultural context where ludopathy is a social phenomenon built through normative and medical definitions, how are healthcare services approaching the treatment of gambling disorder? The purpose of this study is to examine the Italian healthcare service approach to pathological gambling disorder (PGD), with the aim of formulating proposals for action. Italy is chosen as a crucial terrain of investigation to understand the challenges posed by the growth of the gambling market in Europe and its consequences on its healthcare systems.
The empirical material underpinning the analysis includes the latest official statistical data regarding the socio-medical treatment of people with addictions in Italy as well as qualitative interviews conducted with social-sanitary structure managers responsible for therapeutic activities combating dependencies. Through a social construction perspective, gambling and PGD are understood as social phenomena whose meaning and definition comes as a result of a process of negotiation.
Accordingly, principal findings are related to the respondents’ visions of PGD and how they perceive the activities of social and health services, the impact of changes in legislation on the organisation of services, and the ongoing changes regarding this process.

Altruism, trust and solidarity are the symbolic and cultural roots that give rise to the specific... more Altruism, trust and solidarity are the symbolic and cultural roots that give rise to the specific and tangible action of cash donations. It is through these observable specific and tangible actions that we can also detect traces of intangible and symbolic elements critical to the subjective and inter-subjective processes which affect the actions of the donor.

Salute E Societa, 2007

L'ultimo decennio si caratterizza per una profonda trasformazione degli stili di consumo di ... more L'ultimo decennio si caratterizza per una profonda trasformazione degli stili di consumo di sostanze psicoattive. Le numerose ricerche sul fenomeno concordano nel riconoscere alcuni trend emergenti, fra i quali una maggiore diffusione delle sostanze, un moltiplicarsi ...

European journal of dermatology : EJD

Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer and its incidence is increasing worldwide. In 200... more Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer and its incidence is increasing worldwide. In 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the entire UV spectrum as carcinogenic. In many countries, including Italy, the use of tanning equipment by minors and individuals with high risk phenotypes has been banned. This study assessed tan-seeking behaviour in a Mediterranean population with a relatively high melanoma incidence, where a considerable time is spent tanning outdoors. Subjects spending the most time in the sun were typically young single men, who use significantly less sunscreen and sunglasses. The overall prevalence of sunbed use was 22% in youth (≤35 years old) and 18% of them used sunbeds throughout the year. Sunbed use in youth was greater for phenotypes at risk. In Italy, 3.8% of melanoma cases are attributable to sunbed use, more in women (4.2% vs 3.1%, for women and men respectively) and much more in the young (17%). Of 8013 new melanoma cases in 2...

Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 2014

Demand-based estimates of total cannabis consumption rarely consider differences among different ... more Demand-based estimates of total cannabis consumption rarely consider differences among different user types and variation across countries. To describe cannabis consumption patterns and estimate annual consumption for different user types across EU Member States, a web survey in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and United Kingdom (England &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Wales) collected data on cannabis use patterns from 3,922 persons who had consumed cannabis at least once in the past year. They were classified into four groups based on their number of use days in the past 12 months: infrequent users or chippers (&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;11 days), occasional users (11-50 days), regular users (51-250 days) and intensive users (&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;250 days). User type specific data on typical amounts consumed were matched with data on numbers of users per user type estimated from existing population surveys, taking differences in mode of consumption, age and gender into account. Estimates were supplemented with data from populations of problem users to compensate for under coverage. Results showed remarkably consistent differences among user groups across countries. Both the average number of units consumed per typical use day and the average amount of cannabis consumed per unit increased across user types of increasing frequency of use. In all countries except Portugal, intensive users formed the smallest group of cannabis users but were responsible for the largest part of total annual cannabis consumption. Annual cannabis consumption varied across countries but confidence intervals were wide. Results are compared with previous estimates and discussed in the context of improving estimation methods.

L'aumento della conflittualità in ambito sanitario, ed ospedaliero in particolare, è ormai u... more L'aumento della conflittualità in ambito sanitario, ed ospedaliero in particolare, è ormai una realtà estremamente diffusa anche nel nostro Paese, come attestano vari indicatori. Si tratta peraltro di una conflittualità che assume modalità di espressione assai eterogenee, dando luogo ora a reclami e segnalazioni rispetto a negligenze ed inadempienze patite dal paziente, ora a denunce con richieste di risarcimento, con ciò intraprendendo la via giudiziaria. Il fenomeno, non certo una peculiarità italiana, ha già goduto altrove di ...