The project was built around the SCT workshop, with methodological supervision from the Master’s in Social and Community Theatre and the Nursing Degree Course at the University of Turin. Furthermore, the collection of lived experiences of discrimination was addressed both through the examination of literature and documentation on the phenomenon and through direct testimonies in socio-health contexts.

These materials were developed transversally with specific theatrical programs to sensitize future healthcare workers to the prevention of direct and indirect discriminatory acts and to the culture of inclusion. Texts, actions, research, and testimonies produced by the students were incorporated into the theatrical performance Pietre.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

Overall, the project involved:

• a network of hospitals, schools, multi-purpose spaces, and theaters in 6 centers within the Piedmont Region: Turin, Cuneo, Tortona, Rivoli, Vercelli, Asti;
• approximately 90 students from the Nursing Degree Course at the University of Turin;
• students from the Master in Social and Community Theatre – University of Turin;
• healthcare personnel from the ASO Città della Salute-Molinette, ASL TO 2, ASO San Luigi Gonzaga, Ivrea and Cuneo, ASL of Alessandria, Asti, Torino 3 (Pinerolo-Collegno), Vercelli;
• residents of the local communities – Piedmont Region (estimate based on attendance recorded during the final performances);
• a network of associations operating in the relevant territories, including the theatre company Il Mutamento Zona Castalia (Turin).

The evaluation process was based on a qualitative approach with two focus areas: the first aimed to establish the educational effectiveness on the Nursing Degree Course students who participated in the theatre workshops, and the second aimed at evaluating the quality and communicative effectiveness on the audience attending the theatrical performance.

To evaluate the effects of the training, two focus groups were designed and conducted (before and after the theatre workshop) with the aim of initially identifying the students’ mental predisposition towards discrimination and subsequently their ability to recognize it and to act consciously on what to do to avoid it. Each student also completed an anonymous reflective diary during the theatre workshop, aiming to encourage the expression of perceptions related to the issues that emerged and the related phenomena.

The second phase of the evaluation was the assessment of the communicative effectiveness of the Pietre performance on the audience. In each of the locations involved in the project, stories of discrimination were staged, which, together with the audience’s experience, built new and diverse interconnections. In order to assess its impact and estimate its effects, each audience member was given a semi-structured questionnaire. In this way, it was possible to survey the audience’s perception of the theme of discrimination, in terms of sensations and emotions experienced during and after the performance.

For the dissemination of results, a dedicated interactive space was created on the DoRS, InPrESa and TSC Master’s websites, along with the organization of a seminar, the case study and a publication (edited by DoRS and InPrESa with the scientific supervision of the TSC Master’s and Nursing).

“PIETRE”

Starting from interviews with witnesses of discrimination and in workshops conducted with Nursing students from Turin, Cuneo, Ivrea, Pietre was born, a performance for two interpreters in the form of narration and singing that shares the moral dismay in the face of discrimination, but also the strength, sensitivity, and determination to change the way we experience and inhabit care and the world.

The performance is preceded by a choral prologue by the Nursing students and followed by an interactive theatrical action, inspired by Augusto Boal’s Theatre Forum, which involves the audience, proposing to act out one of the collected discrimination situations on stage and to find different possible behaviors together.