Breakfast: a multidisciplinary approach.

BACKGROUND: The role of breakfast as an essential part of an healthy diet has been only recently promoted even if breakfast practices were known since the Middle Age. The growing scientific evidences on this topic are extremely sector-based nevertheless breakfast could be regarded from different point of views and from different expertises. This approach, that take into account history, sociology, anthropology, medicine, psychology and pedagogy, is useful to better understand the value of this meal in our culture. The aim of this paper was to analyse breakfast-related issues based on a multidisciplinary approach with input by specialists from different fields of learning. DISCUSSION: Breakfast is now recommended as part of a diet because it is associated with healthier macro- and micronutrient intakes, body mass index and lifestyle. Moreover recent studies showed that breakfast improves cognitive function, intuitive perception and academic performance. Research demonstrates the importance of providing breakfast not only to children but in adults and elderly too. Although the important role breakfast plays in maintaining the health, epidemiological data from industrialised countries reveal that many individuals either eat a nutritionally unhealthy breakfast or skip it completely. SUMMARY: The historical, bio-psychological and educational value of breakfast in our culture is extremely important and should be recognized and stressed by the scientific community. Efforts should be done to promote this practice for the individual health and well-being.

[Epidemiology without numbers: nurses tell their perception, and the management strategies, of the behavioral problems of the elderly]. / Una epidemiologia senza numeri: gli infermieri raccontano la loro percezione-gestione dei disturbi comportamentali dell'anziano.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the practicability of caring strategies which rely on the subjective resources and insights of nursing personnel in the management of behavioral problems of the elderly. METHODS: Following the indications of a training session, the nurses in charge of a residential geriatric department have been invited to express, through brief written accounts, their point of view on: 1. the definition(s) of behavioral problems; 2. the strategies adopted before or with or in the place of psychotropic drugs; 3. the experience gained from significative responses to non-pharmacological treatments. RESULTS: All the narratives by individual participants are reported to document, through the variability of their languages, concepts, interventions, the need as well as the possibilities of caring behaviors, where listening attitudes are practiced, thus allowing also a better awareness of original role opportunities. CONCLUSIONS: Narrative practices can usefully be incorporated into caring duties and contexts, and represent an important training tool, specifically relevant for the grey areas of medicine.