Role of Psychologists in Cancer Screening Programmes.

Cancer Screening Programmes are essential levels of organized care with complex welfare profiles. At present, there are three Screening Programmes of proven effectiveness in Italy: breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, colorectal cancer screening; these ones draw mostly healthy people, in their age of highest risk of oncologic disease incidence. The professional contribution of Psychology is essential in each stage of the screening’s development, since the beginning. The Psychologist participates to the coordination of the screening Programmes and contributes to the interdisciplinary planning of the development of this kind of Programmes, characterizing psychological needs in every stage of this planning. He applies Community Psychology and Health Psychology models for analysing the social contexts of the target-territory, with the aim to improve the adherence and the local attendance. He contributes to the planning of both informative campaigns on mass media and writing the call letters for the first and second level screening. He develops and applies, with Social Psychology’s models, techniques of Empowerment for fostering aware adherence to the Programmes and suggests methodologies for reducing the stressful impact of screening’s attendance and for the improvement of quality of communication also through the training of health workers about communication techniques and listening, from first reception to following call-backs. He applies: ‘role playing’ techniques for training the medical staff about communication of diagnosis and Clinical Psychology’s models for supporting patients from diagnostic doubt through the oncologic treatment course (with possible psychotherapies) and Work Psychology’s models for preventing and managing the health workers’ burn-out.