Psicologia da saúde no contexto dos cuidados paliativos : um roteiro de orientações para a prática dessa especialidade na assistência paliativa

Abstract

Although Health Psychology is seen as a well-established area, with very clear definition and objectives, recognized and supported by the American Psychological Association (APA), it is possible to perceive, from scientific literature, gaps related to clarity as to its role and ways of acting, mainly related to specific contexts of health services. In this regard, it is understood that this lack of clarity can have repercussions on the quality of services provided by the specialty in question. The context of Palliative Care is an example where gaps related to the action of this specialty are present, such as the lack of studies that discuss this practice, the lack of clarity as to its competences, the lack of systematization of a routine and the indication of strategies that allow an effective operationalization of interventions by the health psychologist. For this reason, it is considered relevant to invest in research that discusses the ways in which Health Psychology operates from specific contexts, such as Palliative Care (PC). With this in mind, this study aimed to propose a guide of orientations for the acting of the health psychologist in the context of PC. Therefore, in the first study, competences related to Health Psychology in this specific context were proposed; in the second study, Evidence-Based Psychological Practice (EBPP) was presented as a strategy that provides the reach of means of operationalization of the professional's practice. Finally, in the third study, it was elaborated a guide of orientations for the acting of the health psychologist in the context of PC, based on their competences, proposed in the first study, and on the stages of palliative care. In this third part, the strategy of EBPP is presented as a suggestion for the operationalization of interventions and elaboration of guides of orientations for the practice of this specialist in more specific contexts of palliative care. Ultimately, it is considered as the main contribution of this research the theoretical reference offered – scarce in scientific literature – which discusses not only the acting of Health Psychology, but this acting in a specific context, which corresponds to the PC.