2020_11_27_ENF_lluch

"We must identify the things that help us feel good or cope better with stresses and difficulties; introduce them into our daily lives; and accept all subject of feelings and emotions but dose them based on intensity, duration, frequency and consequences."

This was explained by María Teresa Lluch Canut - Professor of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health at the University of Barcelona - invited to a seminar which is part of the Diploma in Psychology of Care at Degree in Nursing at the University of Navarra. This Diploma is part of the department in Community and Maternal and Child Nursing and is coordinated by Professor Elena Bermejo.

In her session, the expert spoke about the importance of positive mental health in and for nursing care: "We can be worried or angry, but in a controlled way". She also emphasized the great value of positive mental health for nursing professionals: "For two basic reasons: because it provides them with strategies and resources to face complex situations in an emotionally healthier way -both those related to patients and their families and those related to the healthcare teams and Structures in which they are integrated-; and, secondly, because it favors the capacity for mental self-care". "Self-care is a prerequisite for caring: the greater the capacity for professional self-care, the greater the possibility of being able to help others," emphasized Dr. Lluch.

With regard to the emotional status in which healthcare professionals find themselves in the midst of this pandemic, the expert considers that the COVID "is generating a double pressure status -professionals are also general population, so they have two roles- in conditions that were unimaginable until now. And the status is demonstrating that, in most cases, they have very strong and resilient positive mental health." "Despite the fact that there may be a higher percentage of professionals at risk of suffering physical and or mental health problems, in general they continue to resist and care with motivation with all the quality of care that status allows," adds the expert.

In his opinion, the shortcomings in this area are found "in the system": "Professionals who are not able to resist and face this status should receive more financial aid from the mental health services and in the conditions partner-labor they have".

The general population, on the other hand, also suffers from what he calls "illiteracy in mental health issues": "It is important to be aware of and apply things that help us to be better mentally, such as valuing the good things we have, finding spaces to rest our minds, promoting relationships with people who make us feel good, etc.".

Regarding the Diploma in Psychology of Care Degree in Nursing, the UB professor stressed that "there is a lack of much more specific and specialized training . Very few training required subject credits are dedicated to the psychosocial aspects of care and this should change. If we look at integral care (bio-psycho-social), two thirds of the aspects that the nursing professional develops in their daily work are of subject psychosocial. Therefore, this Diploma is a great advance in the training: it complements the Degree and shows the need to reinforce the psychosocial aspects of care, with professionals trained to respond to their own psycho-emotional requirements and those of the people they care for".