Integrated Course (IC), optional
Objectives
At the end of the course, students will gain knowledge with respect to:
- Hospital psychology and chronic disease management: general framework, cost-benefit analysis, use of scientific evidence and integration of interventions.
- Analysis of scientific and clinical evidence (psychological and neuropsychological) and guidelines for psychological interventions in the following areas:
- Cardiorespiratory
- Physiatric – neuromotor – neurological
- Oncological
- End of life
- Emergency psychology and work-related stress.
- Well-being psychology.
- Reflections on the role of different health professions in the interdisciplinary approach to chronic illness in the rehabilitation setting.
Syllabus
Nowadays, chronic diseases represent the greatest cost to the health care system and from the clinical point of view require interdisciplinary management, also because of their comorbidity and comorbidities.
From this perspective, psychological rehabilitation and especially hospital psychology of chronic diseases fits appropriately within the course of study of the master’s degree in psychology. The psychologist must learn to interface with other health practitioners in order to create a synergy of intervention and care for the patient with chronic illness and his or her primary caregiver. An effective care process (both clinically and cost-effectively) increasingly passes through the construction of a “therapeutic alliance” with the patient, capable of establishing a concrete collaborative relationship, based on shared goals and proper participation and empowerment of the patient and his or her family to the care process itself.
The main models of health psychology applied to the management of chronic diseases will be exposed and the psychological and neuropsychological assessment and treatment methods for the following clinical macro-areas will be described: cardiovascular, respiratory, neuromotor, oncology and end-of-life. The final part of the course will examine the interdisciplinary work of the psychologist in the medical rehabilitation setting, especially the collaboration with the consultant psychiatrist.
During the training, emphasis will be placed on the importance of detecting limitations and resources of the patient and the environment in which he or she is placed, from the perspective of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) promoted by the WHO.
Exam
The examination will consist of oral testing of basic knowledge and applied operational models.
Bibliography
Scientific articles available in pdf on the platform related course topics.
