Concha Tejerina|València (EFE) mental and emotional of the students.
This was stated in an interview with EFE by the new president of the Conference of Deans of Psychology of Spanish Universities, Antonio Ferrer, who also claims the greater presence of Psychology professionals in the field of Social Welfare and its increase in sanitary.
Ferrer warns that, in Spain, the ratio of these professionals per hundred thousand inhabitants in public health is “completely insufficient” with respect to the criteria set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In the opinion of the dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy of the University of Valencia, this university degree “is in good health” because the demand for students has grown “exponentially” in recent years, and one of the challenges of teaching in it is “to adapt flexibly to the new social realities and the new ways of thinking and interacting that youth have.”
More psychologists in Health, Education and Social Welfare
He stresses that in the health field, psychology professionals have felt increasingly supported and recognized, with their inclusion in Primary Care, although he considers that the offer is still “clearly insufficient” and “at least” there should be a psychologist in each Health Center so that it can be a “motor of prevention in the appearance of disorders in people”.
He warns that in Spain the ratio of psychologists in public health is “completely insufficient” with respect to the criteria set by the WHO, which recommends 18 professionals per 100,000 inhabitants. That is the European average, while in Spain it is 6.
It highlights the importance of the presence of a psychologist for prevention and also for the economic efficiency of the system, and stresses that there is evidence that its incorporation into Primary Care contributes to reducing economic costs in healthcare, the number of consultations and the consumption of drugs.
However, he criticizes the lack of professionals in the fields of education and social welfare, where they have been “increasingly reviled, less used and less present”.
“Much to go”
“There is still a long way to go” in Education, a “privileged environment where our young people are for years” and where it is necessary to influence their emotional education to prevent problems such as violence, harassment, mental health problems or suicidal behavior.
As this professor of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology explains, the Conference of Deans and Deans has been demanding the incorporation of Psychology into the educational world for more than a decade from different governments: “But it is still a pending task,” he laments.
He advocates including emotional education explicitly within the school curriculum at all levels and denounces that right now, in schools “there is no figure of the psychologist. The figure of the specialist in Psychology and Pedagogy disappeared and a new one of a general nature appeared: the educational counselor.
This new figure is formed through a Master’s Degree in Secondary School teachers that enables any graduate or graduate, often not in the field of Psychology and Pedagogy, to be an ESO teacher and educational counselor for both the Secondary level as for Infant and Primary.
But according to Ferrer, this training “does not meet the needs of educational centers and what is being demanded of them” and, therefore, calls for the creation of a “well-defined professional figure, with specialized training tailored to the demands”.
The “good health” of the psychology degree
According to Ferrer, the interest in pursuing these studies has increased “exponentially” in recent years, while the consideration of this profession is “much more positive.”
“If 30 or 40 years ago there was a conception of Psychology fundamentally linked to mental illness, today it has changed, and many of those who go to a professional affirm that they do so to improve their abilities, not to treat a disorder . The role of prevention that is given to Psychology is increasingly important ”, he asserts.
According to Ferrer, taking the UV as a reference, for each person who studies the Degree in Psychology “four would like to do it and cannot because there are not enough places”, and he explains that although 450 students access each year, more than 2,000 demand to do so.
There are currently 62 universities in Spain teaching the Degree in Psychology -31 in public centers and 31 in private- and next year there could be two more, one of them in Castilla-La Mancha, and to the question of whether there are too many or not enough, he answers that this will depend on the employability figures, the analysis of which is one of the challenges of the Conference that he chairs.
The employability figures oscillate around 70% three years after finishing the degree, although with variations according to communities, after which they can take the Master’s Degree in General Health Psychology, to practice in a private health center, or also access health through the specialty in Clinical Psychology through the PIR (Resident Internal Psychologist), as well as other specialization studies from among the different professional fields of psychology.
Deans and Deans Conference Challenges
The objectives of this association are the defense and improvement of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Psychology, as well as basic and applied research, and, according to Ferrer, maintaining the “best possible relations” with the General Council of Psychology, which groups the different professional associations, and with the group of psychology students.
In the case of teaching and learning, in accordance with the new conception of the university in the 21st century, seeking that the training includes, in addition to the theoretical knowledge of the future professional in Psychology, the acquisition of certain transversal competences: that it has Good communication skills, know how to adapt flexibly to changes and group work challenges and can also be adaptive with respect to the changing demands of your job.
“Updating knowledge is inherent to the University, and one of the challenges is to adapt flexibly to new social realities, to new ways of thinking and interacting among youth” in aspects such as new addictions to technologies or networks disorders, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, or behavioral disorders. By Concha Tejerina