This contribution places itself within the emergency context of the COVID-19 spread. Until medical research identifies a cure acting at an organic level, it is necessary to manage what the emergency generates among the members of the Community in interactive terms in a scientific and methodologically well-founded way. This is in order to promote, among the members of the Community, the pursuit of the common aim of reducing the spread of infection, with a view to community health as a whole. In addition, being at the level of interactions enables us to move towards a change of these interactions in response to the COVID-19 emergency, in order to manage what will happen in the future, in terms of changes in the interactive arrangements after the emergency itself. This becomes possible by shifting away from the use of deterministic-causal references to the use of the uncertainty of interaction as an epistemological foundation principle. Managing the interactive (and non-organic) fallout of the emergency in the Community is made possible by the formalisation of the interactive modalities (the Discursive Repertories) offered by Dialogical Science. To place oneself within this scientific panorama enables interaction measurements: so, the interaction measurement indexes offers a range of generative possibilities of realities built by the speeches of the Community members. Moreover, the Social Cohesion measurement index, in the area of Dialogical Science, makes available to public policies the shared measure of how and by how much the Community is moving towards the common purpose of reducing the contagion spread, rather than moving towards other personal and not shared goals (for instance, having a walk in spite of the lockdown). In this index, the interaction between the Discursive Repertories and the “cohesion weight” associated with them offers a Cohesion output: the data allow to manage operationally what happens in the Community in a shared way and in anticipation, without leaving the interactions between its members to chance. In this way, they can be directed towards the common purpose through appropriate interventions relevant to the interactive set-up described in the data. The Cohesion measure makes it possible to operate effectively and efficiently, thanks to the possibility of monitoring the progress of the interventions implemented and evaluating their effectiveness. In addition, the use of predictive Machine Learning models, applied to interactive cohesion data, allows for immediate and efficient availability of the measure itself, optimising time and resources.

Starting from statistical data derived from the oncological field, some articles have highlighted the importance of communication in the patient–caregiver dyad and have considered the various roles involved in a cancer diagnosis situation. Thus, the question of how to intervene in terms of “quality of life” from the time of diagnosis to the recovery or death of a cancer patient, beyond the sanitary and physical dimensions, has become relevant. Therefore, the present narrative review aims to offer an overview of the state of the art in terms of the psychological treatment modalities of cancer patients, from the diagnosis to the post-surgery period. A total of 67 articles were collected and analyzed, in relation to (1) psychological constructs employed in the oncological field, (2) intervention models and (3) quality of life and well-being measurement and evaluation tools. We described these articles, differentiating between those focusing on the role of (1) the patient, (2) the caregiver, (3) the patient–caregiver dyad and (4) healthcare professional roles. The oncological diagnosis and its repercussions in the lives of the patient and caregiver were explored and critical aspects that emerged from the literature were highlighted. In conclusion, the analysis allowed some considerations about the need to define research protocols and useful management strategies for increasing the overall health of patients with cancer diagnoses and the people who surround them.

The effects of cancer surgery and treatment harm patients’ life and working ability: major causes of this can be intensified by the postoperative symptoms. This study, the first part of the HEAGIS project (Health and Employment after Gastrointestinal Surgery), proposes a method to assess patients and caregivers’ competences in dealing with postoperative course and the related needs to improve the adequate competences. In this observational study, an ad hoc structured interview was conducted with 47 patients and 15 caregivers between the third and fifteenth postoperative day. Oesophageal (38%), esophagogastric junction (13%), gastric (30%), colon (8%) and rectum (11%) cancer patients were considered. Computerized textual data analysis methodology was used to identify levels of competences. Text analysis highlighted three different levels (low, medium and high) of four specific types of patients and caregivers’ competences. In particular, the overall trend of the preview of future scenarios and use of resource competences was low. Less critical were situation evaluation and preview repercussion of own actions’ competences. Caregivers’ trends were similar. The Kruskal–Wallis test did not distinguish any differences in the level of competences related to the characteristics of the participants. Patients and caregivers are not accurate in planning the future after surgery, using personal beliefs rather than referring to physicians, and not recognizing adequate resources. The medium-low competences’ trend leads to unexpected critical situations, and patients could not deal with them in a maximally effective way. Both patients and caregivers should be taken over by healthcare professionals to improve patients’ competences and make the curative surgery effective in daily life.

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