Information for the student – Psychogerontology

The interuniversity master's degree in Psychogerontology provides the training required for psychology practice with older adults. The programme takes a scientific and professional approach, founded in the assumption that good professional training implies the acquisition of competences relating to both practice and research.

These studies are designed to provide the advanced training that would enable graduates to work with older adults, both in the field of promoting healthy and active ageing and in providing psychological care through dependence and pathologies associated with ageing.

Upon completion of the course, successful students will be able to:

• understand the professional skills required by psychologists working with older people and how they relate to other professionals trained in other disciplines;
  
• work in multidisciplinary teams;
  
• understand, compare and critically evaluate the different trends and traditions in the field of psychogerontology and the current theoretical and practical problems;
  
• develop the capacities in professional practice and research required to carry out tasks of assessment, psychological intervention and research into ageing;

Specific competences

With regard to the specific applications of the curriculum, students will also be able to:

• understand, select and apply tools for psychological assessment in the field of ageing;
  
• interpret the results of an assessment and produce accurate diagnoses of specific individuals, groups or situations;
  
• plan and develop intervention programmes, selecting the objectives, procedures and tools most appropriate to the characteristics of the problem and the context;
  
• design, develop and evaluate prevention, intervention and optimization programmes for older individuals and groups;
  
• apply theories on ageing to the conceptualization of specific cases and situations;
  
• assess and intervene in the family environment of older adults, both healthy and sick;
  
• design and plan environmental and social intervention programmes to help improve the quality of life of older people;
  
• understand the resources and organization of the healthcare system for the elderly;
  
• adjust actions to the corresponding legal and administrative framework and promote the changes needed to improve care for the elderly;
  
• identify and formulate research problems and participate in the design and development of research projects in psychogerontology;
  
• understand, apply and interpret data analysis applied to the study of ageing.