PSYCHOLOGISTS’ REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THEIR PROFESSIONAL FUNCTIONS WITHIN ITALIAN ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TEAMS

In order to promote the implementation of speci$c Italian guidelines for psychological care during Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART), the study aimed to analysis mental representations of psychologists working in ART clinics regarding their functions and roles. Five focus groups with 28 psychologists were conducted. "e text was analysed using emotional text mining (ETM). Analysis showed four clusters of representations from psychologists: ‘Clinical Practice with the patient’, that re&ects the practical functions of psychologist who works with patients; ‘To place psychology within the treatment’, representing the possibility of re-thinking the placement of a psychologist’s work within ART team; ‘Psychologist’s loneliness’, describing the emotional dispositions of psychologists related to di%culties in working within the clinic, in $nding solutions and space; ‘Collusion with medicine’, representing the psychologists’ tendency to adapt their expertise and activities to the medical process. "e results of the present study highlight the need to de$ne psychologists’ functions and operational levels of psychology. To build a clinical practice based on multidisciplinary work still appears to achieve.