The role of psychologists in Italian hospital settings

Since the nineteenth century the hospital is the central node of the Western societies’ healthcare system, a privileged place for diagnosis and treatment activities of physicians. The gradual emancipation of users from a position of passivity, the humanization process started within healthcare services, and the importance of adopting integrated models of care stressed by WHO, led to the opening to humanistic-oriented professionals in the hospitals. The promotion of multi-professionals teams and inter-disciplinary integration are increasingly identified as fundamental factors in order to evolve from an assistential healthcare intervention model towards a biopsychosocial one. However, integrated mind-body interventions in Italian hospitals are still used with few patients and physicians continue to have greater power than other professional groups. Based on these considerations, the aim of this study was to explore the representations of Italian hospital physicians of the role of psychologists within hospital settings. The basic assumption was that healthcare practices are driven by the representations that healthcare professionals have of health interventions and of psychologists’ competences. A questionnaire was developed for this study, and administrated to a sample of 172 Italian hospital physicians. Regression analysis highlighted that a representation of the disease oriented towards a biopsychosocial model predicted the enhancement of psychologists's contribution. Psychologists were considered useful not only for the patients but also for enhancing the quality of hospital services at an organisational level. Anova test results revealed that this association is more common among internists than surgeons. Implications of these findings will be discussed.