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Learning outcomes

The course introduces the student to a comprehensive understanding of the psychological development according to psychoanalytic theory, taking into account the development of the life cycle stages, capacity building and the adjustments required in evolutionary stages. Also it introduces the founding principles of the caring relationship, highlighting the complexity of emotional psychological factors that are present in the relationship with the patient and family members, declined both in the various contexts in which they find themselves (hospital, nursing homes, home), the stage of life cycle that are going through (childhood and adolescence, adulthood, third and fourth age), in relation to the clinical picture presented. Particular attention is paid to the experience of the nurse and the difficulties present in helping relationships.

Program

Clinical psychology: definition, fields of action, relationship with psychiatry.
Types of psychological interventions. The emotional reactions in the interview: transference and countertransference.
The life cycle and the psychosocial perspective of E. Erikson.
The child's psychological development (the psychosexual stages of S. Freud, the attachment theory of J. Bowlby, the development of intelligence of J. Piaget). The theory of personality in psychoanalysis (ego, id, superego, ego ideal, defense mechanisms, psychic conflict).
The emotions and the concept of emotional intelligence.
Concept of stress, stressor, distress, eustress, coping. stress management.
Burnout (definition and symptoms): risk of burnout in the nursing profession. Individual and situational predisposing factors, protective factors.
The psychological reactions and defense mechanisms to the disease in the patient, family, nurses.
The psychological reactions of the patient hospitalized (internal medicine, chronic, surgical) and the relationship with the nurse.
Hospitalization in children: psychological reactions to illness and hospitalization in children and adolescents. The premature nursery and pediatric oncology.
The elderly: aging characteristics and personal and relational changes; problem areas with particular reference to physical dependence and cognitive changes (mild cognitive impairment, dementia, confusion syndrome); the relationship with the family.
The patient with poor prognosis: the communication of bad news; psychological reactions in the patient, family, nurses.
Death in Western culture, places and ways of dying, psychological reactions of the dying, care for the dying and their relatives, death in childhood, mourning and processing phases.

Examination Methods

Written examination with open questions and multiple choice questionnaire