Drug addiction= illness Medical model

1. THE ASSOCIATION “I RAGAZZI DELLA PANCHINA”: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DISCURSIVE CONFIGURATION OF “DRUG ADDICT” AND THE RELATION WITH THE TERRITORY Sara Checchin, Gilberto Guastalla, Gian Piero Turchi, Alessandro Zamai, Gigi Dal Bon Psychology Department – University of Padova, Italy • E-mail: labsalute.psicologia@unipd.itnpiero.turchi@unipd.it - labsalute.psicologia@unipd.it Abstract According to the Narrative Paradigm, for which “reality is a discursive configuration generated by discursive practices” (Turchi, 2004), the aim of the research was to describe the discursive practices through which the Association “I Ragazzi della Panchina”, in Pordenone (Italy), contributed to redefine the discursive configuration of “drug addict”, generated by the talkers’ community. The method used for the textual analysis of the texts gathered is MADIT. The results show that the discursive configuration of “drug addict” is built up by the whole speakers’ community. Specifically, through different discursive elements used by people who know/attend the activities of the Association “I Ragazzi della Panchina” and people who do not know/attend them. Drug addiction= illness Medical model works is focused on the behaviour with an intervention of physiological kind Epistemologically unfounded (it joins together two different epistemological levels) Drug addiction= configuration of reality NARRATIVISTIC PARADIGM according to which “reality is generated by the discursive practices that nominate it as ‘reality’” (Turchi, 2004) Interventions are focused on the dialogical self Epistemologically grounded METHODOLOGY Strategic lines followed: 1) Analysis of local newspapers: textual analysis of eighty local newspapers about the Association “I Ragazzi della Panchina”, comparing two different periods: from 1995 up to 1999 and from 2000 up to 2004. The 2000 is the year in which the Association opened its headquarters in the urban center. 2) Utilization of two questionnaires with open questions, aiming to gather the cognitive modalities used to construct the “drug addict” identity. The questionnaires were given to all the people concurring to the generation of the identity of the “drug addict”, that is not only to the consumer of illegal drugs, but to the citizens in general. More specifically, the sample was composed by 949 citizens of the city of Pordenone: 534 persons knowing the Association and its activities; 389 persons that do not know the Association and its activities; 27 drug consumers frequenting the Association. The textual data were gathered and analyzed with M.A.D.I.T. – Method for the Textual-Computerized Data Analysis (Turchi et al., 2007). RESULTS The achievement of the office in the city centre modifies the way to construct the “drug problem” and the Association attenders, who are not used to be seen as part of the community. References:Turchi G.P., Baciga D., Mussoni A., Salvini A., I sistemi di credenze in soggetti con esperienza diretta, indiretta o assente di sostanze psicotrope: l'analisi di domande aperte mediante Spad-T, in A. Morin e P. Sébillot (eds.), JADT 2002. 6es Journèes internationales d’Analyse statistique des Donnèes Textuelles. Vol. 2. Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systémes Aléatoires/Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, Rennes, 2002 Turchi G.P., 2007 “M.a.d.i.t.: manuale per la metodologia dei dati testuali informatizzati” Aracne Editrice Turchi G.P., Della torre C., 2007 “Psicologia della salute: dal modello bio-psico-sociale al modello dialogico”, Armando Editore CONCLUSIONS The efficacy evaluation of interventions with tobacco’s consumers: An action that modifies the discursive configuration, Dalila Barbanera, Gian Piero Turchi & Eleonora Pinto (University of Padua, Italy) The generation of discursive configurations of drug addicts: A comparison between Italy and the Netherlands, Roberto Fumagalli, Simona Fanelli, Dalila Barbanera & Gian Piero Turchi (University of Padua, Italy) After the Association’s birth, a cultural change started: now there are no more labels such as “drug addicts” and “normal people”: all the people are part of the same community, sharing the responsibility of health promotion on the territory Before the Association was born there was a conflict between different groups within the community: the so-called “drug addicts” and the so-called “normal people”