Standards of psycological training in Palliative Care

The spread of palliative care creates the necessity of developing training and care standards aimed at those who wish to specialize in the psycho-social care of terminal patients. It is due to this reason, that SECPAL, at the request of its psychologists, has regarded it necessary to set certain psychological standards in Palliative Care. To create these standards, two different difficulty levels have been established in the postgraduate course: basic training and advanced training with regards to knowledge, skills, and attitudes when facing terminal illnesses and the imminence of death. The content development at the advanced level is structured depending on the intervention aspects considered in a terminal illness situation: patient, family, and staff, and is specifically aimed at psychologists. The teaching contribution of the psychologist is also included in the training of the different professionals who may be interested in Palliative Care or in developing their own main work in it.