PSICÓLOGAS(OS) DA SAÚDE E TECNOLOGIA DE INFORMAÇÃO E COMUNICAÇÃO: ADAPTAÇÕES E REPERCUSSÕES A PARTIR DA PANDEMIA

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the need for adaptations and has accelerated the acceptance and utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in psychological services. The aim of this study was to describe how psychologists that work in the healthcare field have adapted their work to operate through ICT from March 2020, and the professional repercussions of this new practice for service strategies and work organization after the critical period of the pandemic. This dissertation is part of the conclusion of the Professional Master's Degree in Health Psychology in the Clinical Practices and Mental Health research line and consists of three independent research papers. Research paper 1: A theoretical essay that discussed the scenario of ICT use by psychologists in Brazil from a historical perspective, identifying trends and gaps in research and professional regulation through document analysis, data collection from the transparency portal of the Federal Psychology Council, and preliminary analyses of an integrative review. It concluded that the regulation and the expansion of ICT use by psychologists in Brazil are late when they are compared to other countries, influenced by social and market demands. Research paper 2: An integrative review aimed at identifying and describing psychological practices and interventions using ICT in the healthcare field within the Brazilian context. From the analysis of 22 research papers published between 2006 and 2023, it concluded that the use of technologies in psychological services emerged as a response to mental health care in the pandemic context, with gaps in training and the need for ethical and technical reflections on the relation between psychology and technology. Research paper 3: This research paper aimed at investigating through an on-line questionnaire, with open and closed questions, how psychologists work in the healthcare field has adapted their work to operate through ICT from March 2020, and the repercussions of this practice. For quantitative analysis, non-parametric methods such as Wilcoxon and Friedman tests for paired samples in different periods and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests for independent samples were used. Qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The tests indicated a statistically significant difference in the frequency of professional ICT use by healthcare psychologists in various use modalities before, during, and after the pandemic, with higher frequency during the most severe period of physical distancing measures. However, when comparing the periods before the pandemic and currently, the frequency is higher in the current period. The analyses concluded that the profile of secondary use of psychological services mediated by technologies has changed, with work organization nowinvolving the use of various technological tools and having new demands. In addition to the research papers, the products of this dissertation were: a) a Guide to assist psychologists working with ICT-mediated service provision; b) a Guide to assist users of these psychological services.