At the end of the PROCHILD Project, the UNIBO team developed 3 dissemination tools to guarantee the sustainability of the PROCHILD objectives and activities with the final goal of continuing raising awareness in the public, mainly families and workers from Child Protection Services (CPS), about child abuse and neglect.
These three tools will be presented on Thursday 25th on the occasion of the PROCHILD press conference organised by the University of Bologna.
CHILD ABUSE – FILM SHOW
The contemporary art exhibition “CHILD ABUSE”, promoted by Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, with the collaboration of the IRCCS-S. Orsola University Hospital and Genus Bononiae – Musei nella Città, is attended by artists who have always been attentive to the world of troubled, violated, abused childhood and adolescence, where the core and essence of the original discourse rises by means of artistic language, which broadens its meaning and evokes further multiple emotional references. The film CHILD ABUSE shows sculptures, artist videos, paintings, photographs, installations. Thus, a line of creative research is envisaged that also performs an important social communication and makes use of different languages, either explicitly political, or related to subtle psychic dynamics, or representative of a ferocious daily banality of evil. Thanks to its multiple languages the film show is addressed to a wide public, including families, children and adolescents, caregivers, workers in Child Protection Services and the general public.
Figure 1 – Eleonora Mazza
Figure 2 – P. Migliazza, Bambina, 2018
ROCKING HORSE – by the Italian Architect Massimo Iosa Ghini
The architecture and design studio Iosa Ghini Associati was invited to be part of the ProChild project and to make its concrete contribution: a Rocking Horse, a game element par excellence. “We tried to give a signal, an element of relief, by designing a preparatory game for the growth of children. We have called their world by communicating attention to them” explained the architect Massimo Iosa Ghini. The Rocking Horse will be donated to the Paediatric Unit of the S. Orsola Hospital with the purpose of recalling children to their world also in places where the necessary procedures for verifying and protecting minors are carried out. “We wanted to give a clear signal in these places through a game that in children represents a symbolic-practical moment, with which they imitate reality and experience firsthand. The Rocking Horse is a traditional game, a simple element made of high-growth Greenpeace wood. We strongly want to convey to children attention, trust, the possibility of growth, cultivation of their dreams to become adults with the greatest possible serenity. I hope to be able to make my contribution even with this small gesture“adds Massimo Iosa Ghini.
Figure 3 – PROCHILD Rocking Horse
SHAKEN BABY APP – the watchword is: “pamper your child and never shake him!”
Within the European Project PROCHILD it seemed important to find a way of communicating to large segments of the population, in particular new parents and other caregivers such as nursery operators, to deal with the topic of the shaken baby syndrome and its risks, sometimes not imagined, related to the shaking of an infant.
The App that has been developed collects information notes on this serious form of maltreatment, together with useful information on the rhythms of sleep, nutrition, and crying of the child, since this information can greatly reduce anxiety and frustration of parents who may feel inadequate to respond to the needs of their child, highlighted by their crying.
In the App there are useful tips to calm the child’s physiological crying and some indications for recognizing frequent problems for which it should instead be asked a pediatrician for advice. With the App, the new mother can also do a self-assessment of her own level of anxiety.
The App will be downloadable and disseminated through magazines addressed to families, press releases and industry sites.