Updated September 23, 2024
maintain health status, retard functional decline, and reduce or delay institutionalization; (2) patients with advanced terminal illness who want palliative care; and (3) patients who are hospice-appropriate but are not ready/willing to enroll in hospice care or do not want to discharge from our services at the end-of-life. The psychologist provides assessment and intervention to individuals and families to address psychological issues that are interfering with their medical care, compromising their health status and functional capacity, and/or reducing their quality of life. Cases include helping patients cope with grief, depression, anxiety, and other psychological issues related to the aging process, having chronic medical illnesses, and/or other life stressors; interventions to increase adherence to and adjustment to treatment regimens; and working with caregivers to improve patient well- being and treatment adherence, and/or to reduce caregiver stress. Psychology Training Provided: In the HBPC program, interns conduct psychological/cognitive assessment, psychotherapy, family interventions, and become active members of an interdisciplinary treatment team.
Roles and responsibilities of interns during this rotation include the following:
• Attending and actively participating in weekly HBPC team meetings via treatment planning, education, and consultation • Providing psychodiagnostic interviews, brief cognitive testing, neuropsychological assessments, and/or psychotherapy intervention with referred HBPC patients in a patient’s place of residence (private homes, assisted living facilities or other extended care facilities). • Providing consultation to staff regarding a patient’s mental health issues and/or improving patient-centered care. • Providing staff in-service and education. Skills emphasized on this rotation are: a) development of an understanding of normal functioning in aging, such as age-related changes in cognitive and physical functioning, and common developmental issues/tasks associated with aging; b) assessment of older adults through use of clinical interviewing, psychodiagnostic evaluation, neuropsychological screening, and evaluations of daily living skills; c) individual psychotherapy with older adults with chronic medical illnesses; d) provision of services to the family in coping with caregiving and addressing problems that arise during the course of a medical or mental illness, including major neurocognitive disorder; and e) active participation in a treatment team through consultation, staff education, and facilitating team functioning. The primary theoretical orientation of the rotation is cognitive-behavioral, although other approaches can be integrated when appropriate.
Assessment
1. Diagnostic interviews: mood, anxiety, adjustment disorder, cognitive disorder, possibly thought disorders, substance use disorders 2. Screening tests for cognitive functioning (e.g., SLUMS, MOCA, BLESSED, COGNISTAT)
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