The Second-level Short Specialisation Degree in Geropsychology for Longevity and Dementia, prepares professionals to work with elderly people with typical ageing, neurodegenerative issues (dementia) and their caregivers, in different contexts.
The purpose of the Master is to provide knowledge, (cognitive and neuropsychological) assessment tools and competences for operative interventions, including also the use of evidence-based technologies, to be employed for typical ageing (in a preventive view), or pathological ageing (dementia) and with elderly people with psycho-pathologies, as well as with caregivers (relatives and operators), within multi-disciplinary teams in different care settings.
The Second-level Short Specialisation Degree in Geropsychology for Longevity and Dementia, provides operative knowledge and tools, training students in:
- Promoting psycho-social well-being for preventive purposes
- Conduct anamnestic and psychodiagnostic interviews, and multidimensional/differential neuropsychological assessments
- Assess emotional skills, day-to-day ability and independence, pain and quality of life in people with dementia or institutionalized
- Suggest cognitive, emotional and social ability strengthening interventions, and evidence-based psycho-social activities for people with MCI/Dementia (even with early onset)
- Intervening in psycho-pathologies and disabilities in ageing patients with in/formal caregivers
- Managing the end of life
- Working in multidisciplinary teams and in different care settings, and coordinating specialist teams for people with dementia
The Second-level Short Specialisation Degree in Geropsychology for Longevity and Dementia is addressed to graduates of the following study titles:
- Old-system degree in: Medicine and Surgery; Pedagogy; Psychology; Science of Education; Science of Primary Education; Science of Health Planning; Social Services;
- Specialist Degree (Ministerial Decree 509) in: 46/S; 56/S; 57/S; 58/S; 63/S; 65/S; 87/S;
- Master’s Degree (Ministerial Decree 270) in: LM-41; LM-50; LM-51; LM-55; LM-57; LM-85; LM-87.
Professionals may work with single persons or healthcare/educational bodies in different contexts, for consultancy, assessment, screening, support and management services concerning typical and pathological ageing (dementia), and for organizational services.
Therefore, potential job placement may include: nursing homes, day care centres, Alzheimer assessment units, clinics, retirement homes, local and municipal projects to prevent cognitive decline and promote active ageing, associations, home care services and clinical or research facilities that diagnose and treat people with pathological ageing. The Master also provides training for planning and private practice.
The Second-level Short Specialisation Degree in Geropsychology for Longevity and Dementia, provides specific training on:
Fundamentals of ageing psychology:
- Changes at sensory, cognitive, emotional-motivational level of typical and pathological ageing
- Biological vs psychological age
Sociology and on-going learning
- Current social-demographic changes
- Influence of the social-economic context on the ageing process
- Transition to retirement and senior workers
Social psychology
- Stereotypes, prejudices on ageing, ageism and related impact in elderly people’s life and in their caregivers
- Malignant social psychology
Methodology
- Main data collection and analysis methods when studying psychological ageing
Cognitive and metacognitive interventions, planning, development and conduction of
- evidence-based programs/training for cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, and social ability strengthening
- Rehabilitation interventions
- Evidence-based psycho-social cognitive stimulation interventions for people with dementia
Life span psychology
- Multidimensionality and multidirectionality of ageing at behavioural and cerebral level
- Well-being and healthy ageing in a preventive view
Environmental psychology
- Role of the environment in supporting the autonomy and safety of elderly people, following changes in environmental competence and orientation ability
- Attachment to places and transfer to a facility
- Age- and dementia-friendly interior design
Cognitive psychology
- Models and theories on changes and stability of cognitive abilities in typical/pathological ageing
- Understanding of complex day-to-day ability performance
- Planning multidimensional assessments for subsequent targeted interventions
Psychology of personality and of individual differences
- Personality in elderly people and impact on life quality (traits, reasons, values, self-effectiveness, confidence and optimism)
- Role of individual differences
Clinical psychology
- Clinical and psycho-diagnostic interviews with elderly people and caregivers, and support paths
Pain treatment, bioethics, grieving process and end of life - Psychopathology of ageing
- Mindfulness and compassion-based interventions
Neuropsychology of ageing
- Structural and functional changes in cerebral ageing
- Characteristics and causes of mild cognitive impairment and dementia
- Role of cognitive reserve
- Cognitive and neuro-psychological assessment tools for cognitive decline, even in initial phases
- Pathological ageing
Fundamentals of institutional gerontology
- Regulations, policies and healthcare provisions
- National/European territorial projects
- Team work in the territory and in home care settings
- Leadership and coordination in nursing homes
- Service network for elderly people
- Training for local operators, bodies and associations
- Technology and life quality in elderly people
At the end of the Master, based on the quality of the final project, and on the work carried out within the traineeship, the Master Organizing Committee will award the best students with study awards of different amounts, sponsored by the following partner Bodies:
- Istituto per Servizi di Ricovero e Assistenza agli Anziani (ISRAA), Treviso (TV)
- AltaVita Istituzioni Riunite di Assistenza (IRA), Padua (PD)
- Fondazione Opera Immacolata Concezione (OIC), Padua (PD)
- CSA Tiepolo, San Martino di Lupari (PD)
- RSA Adele Zara, Mira (VE)
- Centro Multifunzionale Palazzo Malta, Venice (VE)
Study awards are not to be construed as scholarships, and will be awarded to the winning student(s) directly by the Associations.
- Life Span Psychology, healthy and active ageing, prevention and Life Long Learning
- Mind theory in ageing
- Psycho-diagnostic interviews with elderly people and their families
- Cognitive, emotional-motivational, and independence multidimensional assessment
- Neuro-psychological and clinical assessment
- Quality of life and pain assessment, even in people with dementia/institutionalized
- Care relationship with elderly people
- Cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, and social ability strengthening interventions to tackle current challenges (loneliness)
- Clinical neuropsychology of ageing
- Mindfulness and compassion-based interventions
- Assessment and interventions in the environment
- Disabilities, psychiatric diseases, solitude and depression in ageing people
- Person-centred care approach
- Evidence-based psycho-social interventions for people with dementia
- Care provision technologies and digitalisation
- Pharmacology of ageing
- Caregiving and interventions to support caregivers
- Planning and Individualized Care Plans
- Training in services and interventions for the operators’ well-being
- Service network, regulations and European policies for elderly people
- Leadership and coordination in nursing homes
- Territorial and home care interventions
- Palliative care and end of life
The traineeship can be completed at sponsor associations, or other bodies to be associated with the University of Padua.
The Master’s sponsor Associations include:
- Servizio di Psicologia dell’Invecchiamento e della Longevità afferente al Centro di Ateneo dei Servizi Clinici Universitari Psicologici (SCUP) of the University of Padua (Padua)
- Istituto per Servizi di Ricovero e Assistenza agli Anziani – ISRAA (Treviso)
- AltaVita Istituzioni Riunite di Assestenza – IRA (Padua)
- Fondazione Opera Immacolata Concezione – OIC (Padua and other locations in Veneto)
- RSA Adele Zara (Mira, VE)
- CSA Tiepolo (San Martino di Lupari, PD)
- IPAB la C.A.S.A (Schio, VI)
- UOC Geriatria OSA e Ospedale di Comunità, Sant’Antonio Hospital, Padua University Hospital (Padua)
- Associazione Omnia Impresa Sociale (Verona)
- UOSD Centro Regionale Invecchiamento Cerebrale – CRIC (Padua)
- Centro Servizi Anziani Monselice (PD)
- Nursing homes in Roncade (TV) and Cordenons (PN)
- Centro Servizi Anni Sereni (Scorzè, VE)
- Centro Multifunzionale Palazzo Malta (Venice)
The general ranking of merit for the academic year 2023/24 will be published on the Italian page of this Master according to the timing provided in the Call.
Information
FAQ
The course program (300 hours) includes 3 intensive in-classroom weeks, Monday to Saturday, from 9:30 AM to 6 PM (at the Scuola di Psicologia in Padua and the ISRAA in Treviso), and 1-2 weekends of remote lessons per month (Zoom), on Friday and Saturday, from 9:30 AM to 6 PM.
It also includes a traineeship (300 hours) to be completed in service centres for the elderly, nursing homes, associations and cooperatives, day care centres, hospitals, research institutes and/or university departments/services.
At the end of the course, all students must submit a project (dissertation) of aspects and topics they are interested in, such as a clinical case, an experimental research, an essay, or an experience related to the traineeship.
The Master promotes and supports the participation to conventions on geropsychology and update/training seminars.
Attendance is mandatory for at least 80% of the total hours (i.e., at least 240 hours out of 300).
No, the Master does not issue CME. However, participation to the Master provides exemption from obtaining the CME for the enrolment year.
Students can choose an Association on the entire national territory, as long as it is affiliated with the University of Padua. If it is not, a new five-year affiliation must be stipulated between the Association and the University of Padua. You can check the Association’s position by contacting our Stage & Career Service Office. Alternatively, you can check if the Association is already affiliated when you fill out the traineeship project form (only after enrolling in the Master), by logging into your personal area, on the Unipd Careers Portal, and entering the address of the Association you have selected. If the Association is already affiliated, the system will display its affiliation number and the stipulation date.
Yes, you can activate and complete more than one traineeship in the same facility at the same time, provided they relate to the field of psychology of ageing (see FAQ 5).
Those who are already doing the post-graduate professionalising traineeship (1000 hours), or the practical-assessment traineeship (750 hours), can complete the Master traineeship in the same facility, as long as it relates to the field of psychology of ageing. Furthermore, the Master traineeship can be completed at the student’s place of work, as long as it is certified that the tasks carried out are different from their usual tasks, and that they relate to the field of psychology of ageing.