Students’ Confidence and Interest in Palliative and Bereavement Care: A European Study

As part of a European Erasmus Plus project entitled Death Education for Palliative Psychology, this study assessed the ways in which Master’s Degree students in psychology and the creative arts therapies self-rated their confidence and interest in death education and palliative and bereavement care. In five countries (Austria, Israel, Italy, Poland, Romania), 344 students completed an online questionnaire, and 37 students were interviewed to better understand their views, interest, and confidence. The results revealed some significant differences between countries, and showed that older respondents with previous experience as formal caregivers for end-of-life clients showed greater interest in obtaining practical clinical competence in these fields. A mediation analysis indicated that students’ previous care experiences and past loss experiences were related to students’ current interest in death education and palliative and bereavement care through the mediation of their sense of confidence in this field. The qualitative findings identified five shared themes: life and death, learning about death, the psychological burden, personal experience and robust training, and four key training needs. Overall, students’ interest in studying and working with terminal illness and death are rooted in internal resources, a preliminary sense of confidence, but also external requirements

The effectiveness of the EMPoWER project and intervention: Psychodrama and the elaboration of domestic violence in Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Portugal, Romania, and Albania

The chapter discusses the results of the Daphne Project WMPoWER. It showes a high validity of the research instruments used in the study. Moreover, the results obtained from the various samples of the different tests are positioned below the thresholds established by previous studies of validation. The results confirm the hypothesized model, showing positive correlations between indices of spontaneity and psychological well-being. The research supports the idea that both models (psychodramatic and psychosocial/ecological) contribute to strengthening the empowerment of women who suffer from domestic violence. The results obtained by the project are highly positive and confirm that this model of intervention should be extended, possibly prolonging the intervention and also measuring the follow-up after one year