With acceptance and commitment therapy you will help your patients to assimilate the negative aspects of their cancer experience"

Cancer is associated with an experience of suffering and vulnerability, which generates high levels of stress in patients and their families. Consequently, more and more voices in the scientific community advocate the need to provide psychological support to those affected by the disease, as this reduces the side effects of exhaustion, increasing the quality of life and survival. 

Accordingly, this postgraduate diploma in Psychological Treatment of Cancer Patients and their Families will focus, first of all, on providing the most relevant cognitive-behavioral models within the discipline. Therefore, the student will learn the techniques of problem solving, cognitive restructuring, guided imagination, among others. All of them have been tested by experts in the area and have proven to be suitable to help the process of coping with the disease. Additionally, they facilitate the alliance between the physician and the patient at the moment of planning a strategy that helps to improve the quality of life of the patient. 

Secondly, the impact of the location of the tumor on the patient's psyche will be studied. In this way, the student will learn to discriminate between the emotions generated by colorectal cancer and those derived from breast cancer, the latter receiving greater attention from the scientific community due to its great impact on self-esteem, body image and the female role in society. 

Finally, they will learn about the interventions that are applied in areas related to cancer, allowing students to develop a program that helps people to prevent lung disease as a result of years of tobacco abuse. Additionally, they will be able to select and train volunteers to create an external support network for the patient. For all these reasons, the physician will be more than qualified to participate in an integral way in any oncological hospital center at a national and international level. 

Patients need to understand their suffering in order to receive the right medical support"

This postgraduate diploma in Psychological Treatment of Cancer Patients and their Families contains the most complete and up-to-date scientific program on the market. The most important features include: 

• Practical cases presented by experts in psycho-Oncology and medicine
• The graphic, schematic, and practical contents with which they are created, provide scientific and practical information on the disciplines that are essential for professional practice
• The practical exercises where the self-evaluation process can be carried out to improve learning
• Special emphasis on innovative methodologies for psychological intervention with cancer patients 
• Theoretical lessons, questions to the expert, debate forums on controversial topics, and individual reflection assignments
• Content that is accessible from any fixed or portable device with an Internet connection 

Help your patients to prepare themselves psychologically for the different cancer treatments and the side effects they may experience"

The program’s teaching staff includes professionals from the sector who contribute their work experience to this educational program, as well as renowned specialists from leading societies and prestigious universities. 

Its multimedia content, developed with the latest educational technology, will allow the professional a situated and contextual learning, that is, a simulated environment that will provide an immersive training programmed to train in real situations. 

The design of this program focuses on Problem-Based Learning, in which the professional will have to try to solve the different professional practice situations that will arise throughout the academic course. For this purpose, the student will be assisted by an innovative interactive video system created by renowned experts. 

Employ group therapy in your treatment syllabus to avoid feelings of loneliness in oncology patients"

Assess and intervene in emotions and disruptive behaviors at each stage of the disease"

The following program will help medical oncologists to develop their skills to accompany and support their patients, ensuring adherence to treatments to help them cope with the disease. In this way, they will learn firsthand the influence of psychological aspects in all phases of cancer and how the patient's perception changes depending on the type of tumor they are facing. Therefore, they will ensure that the long hours of biomedical therapies are pleasant and bearable. 

Patients experience fear and anxiety when they begin cancer treatment. Help them cope with them and commit to their recovery" 

General Objectives

• Gain in-depth knowledge of the area of study and development of the profession 
• Know the application of psychology in the nursing care for cancer 
• Define the functions of a psycho-oncology unit and the role of the psycho-oncologist in the health care setting 
• Gain in-depth knowledge of the different therapeutic options in the psychological treatment of cancer 
• Contribute to the control of mood alterations through appropriate psychological strategies 
• Know how to assess and intervene in adaptive and maladaptive emotions and behaviors 
• Understand the influence of the psychological aspects of each type of tumor and to contribute to their control by means of psychological strategies 
• Know how to assess and intervene in adaptive and maladaptive emotions and behaviors of the different oncologic processes 
• Know how to differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive emotions and behaviors at the end of life 
• Explore and apply strategies for emotional self-regulation 
• Know, evaluate, diagnose and intervene in the most prevalent psychological problems in palliative care 
• Explore personal, social and cultural beliefs and values of the family in relation to illness and death 
• Prepare for the loss 
• Detect psychological reactions in the different phases of grief 
• Provide appropriate individual and family bereavement support 
• Prevention and early identification of pathological grief 
• Gain in-depth knowledge of the basics and acquire basic communication skills 
• Understand in depth the theoretical bases of the professional-patient relationship 
• Be able to deliver bad news and answer difficult questions 
• Elaborate an initial assessment (detailed clinical history) and analysis of the social and spiritual emotional impact on the patient and their family 
• Know how to apply the instruments for the assessment of the patient and the family, useful and appropriate for each symptom and stage of the disease 
• Know in depth the conceptual bases, the methodology, the systematics and the procedures related to research in psycho-oncology 
• Search and select from information: electronic databases, websites, libraries, magazines, texts, etc.
• Apply bioethical principles to daily clinical practice with special emphasis on the most complex and specific situations 
• Deepen understanding in the conceptual and practical bases of ethics applied to the oncological process 
• Analyze in a scientific, rigorous and systematic way, ethical problems from an interdisciplinary perspective 
• Deepen understanding of the methodology of bioethics, rational and interdisciplinary, and know how to apply it to concrete or general situations 

Specific Objectives

Module 1. Psychological Treatments in Cancer and Third Generation Therapies 

• Determine realistic treatment objectives together with the patient and/or their family 
• Undergo training in the methods of intervention with cancer patients, especially empirically supported treatment techniques 
• Identify those somatic symptoms and/or psychological alterations that are perceived by the patient as a threat 
• Detect and enhance, as far as possible, the patient's own resources

Module 2. Most Relevant Psychological Aspects According to Different Tumor Locations 

• Identify those somatic symptoms and/or psychological alterations that are perceived by the patient as a threat 
• Compensate for, eliminate or attenuate such symptoms, symptom control 
• Detect and enhance, as far as possible, the patient's own resources 
• Facilitating adaptation to the disease during the biomedical treatment process (affecting anxiety, anguish, side effects of chemotherapy, phobias of radiotherapy devices, sexual dysfunctions and also hospital admissions) 
• Encourage active coping styles 
• Facilitate therapeutic adherence to medical treatment 

Module 3. Other Psychological Interventions in Specific Cancer-Related Areas 

• Perform in-depth management of the combined protocol for the smoking withdrawal process and relapse prevention 
• Perfect the skills and competencies necessary for the selection, training and supervision of volunteers 
• Detect the psychological factors associated with participation in cancer screening and genetic counseling programs, as well as to encourage participation in them by increasing the perception of control 
• Analyze the use and some of the advantages of group therapy compared to individual treatment 
• Gain in-depth knowledge of psychological preparation programs for the different medical oncological treatments and their side effects 
• Be able to identify and mitigate the sequelae that remain in cancer survivors

Motivate your patients to get on with their lives and find activities to help them get through the long hours of treatment"