Abstract:

The growing demand for psychological help is based on the biopsychosocial way of thinking about health and illness. It is the product of a combination of factors including biological characteristics in close relationship with behavioral factors (e.g., lifestyle, stress, health beliefs) and social conditions (e.g., family relationships, social support). Psychologists as healthcare providers should be equipped with skills and knowledge that assist people in recovery from illness for holistic well-being. However, psychologists’ integration into healthcare organizations is a little slow. There are two major reasons for that. First, psychologists themselves feel too unprepared to work with health problems, secondly, it is often difficult for them to integrate into the healthcare system because they do not feel part of the team. In such a situation, learning from experience becomes a relevant factor. However, such a process requires mindfulness, which helps keep intentional attention and focus on emergent experiences.
This study explored the experiences of psychologists working in the Lithuanian healthcare system. The results showed that psychologists learn from their experiences in therapeutic practice the most and use those experiences to better their quality of work. However, psychologists note that there is a lack of more practical training for their work, especially in the field of healthcare. They also face systemic barriers, stigma, and a lack of valid measures and instruments in Lithuanian for assessing and helping people. Furthermore, time pressure, low salaries, and big workloads are daunting. Also, other specialists and clients still have little knowledge about what a psychologist does, and there is a shortage of healthcare information exchanges and communication with other professionals. Implications of this study revealed the need for education and training, with an emphasis on more practice, psychoeducation, prevention, and healthcare information exchanges.

Keywords:

Psychologists, healthcare system, mindfulness, experiential learning.