Abstract:

Background: Having a Master's Degree in General Health Psychology (Máster en Psicología General Sanitaria, MPGS) is the minimum requirement to practice clinical and health psychology in Spain. One the required competences for future General Health Psychologists is to demonstrate interpersonal communication and emotion management skills appropriate for an effective interaction with patients. However, emotional disorders are very common in university students (around 20%) and there is not specific training in socio-emotional competences within the MPGS curriculum. Therefore, a possible solution would be to train students into social-emotional competencies to improve their mental health and therapeutic competencies. The main objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of a training in emotional regulation (ER) strategies aimed to increase the therapeutic competencies of future General Health Psychologists (Psicólogos/as Generales Sanitarios, PGS), and, thus, improve their employability. Method: Fifty-six alumni (89.3% women; mean age=22.68; SD=1.18) of two academic courses (2020-22) of the MPGS at the University of Zaragoza participated in the study. The training consisted of three workshops: mindfulness, cognitive flexibility and emotional exposure, which were carried out sequentially during two MPGS subjects: PGS skills training and Advanced Techniques of Psychological Intervention; and were taught by the professors of these subjects during 3 sessions (8h). The following variables were assessed before and after the training, and at 6-month follow-up (beginning and end of the 1st quarter, as well as at the end of the 2nd quarter): experiential avoidance (Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire), mindfulness skills, mindfulness (Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire), ER difficulties (ER Difficulties Scale), cognitive reappraisal (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire). Two personality dimensions (neuroticism and extraversion; NEO Five-Factor Inventory; NEO-FFI), as well as satisfaction with the program were also assessed. Results: Preliminary findings showed statistically significant differences before and after training (beginning and end of the 1st quarter) in reducing neuroticism, experiential avoidance, and ER difficulties, as well as an increase in the "observing," "describing," and "nonjudgmental" facets of mindfulness. Trainees also reported moderate-high satisfaction with the program. Conclusions: Preliminary results of the study show an improvement in the emotional competences of future PGSs, which could help facilitate their future professional performance in clinical and health psychology.

Keywords:

Emotion regulation, socio-emocional competences, master's Degree, general health psychology.