Representación social del psicólogo clínico en la población adulta de Cuenca-Ecuador

Abstract

Clinical psychology has become important in recent decades and more and more is known about this discipline, however, the conception that exists about the clinical psychologist in the general population is still vague. In Ecuador, particularly in Cuenca, canton of the province of Azuay, there is no concrete information about the perspective that the population has with respect to this professional, therefore, it has been necessary to explore the social representation of the clinical psychologist, adhering to a qualitative approach, of exploratory scope with a transversal design.

The information was collected through semi-structured interviews. We chose to perform a thematic analysis, so the information was recorded through audio recordings that were subsequently transcribed; for the processing of the same code was coded and grouped to form categories.

The number of participants in this study was twelve people selected through a non-probabilistic sampling by quotas; those that were subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria. It took four participants in each stage of adulthood; two men and two women per period, it should be mentioned that the number of interviews was subject to the criterion of saturation of the data.

Finally, the results were based on three categories: information, the field of representation and attitude, which indicate that the clinical psychologist is in charge of treating people in conflict situations, helping them to solve their problems and their main form of intervention is through advice. The clinical psychologist is more valued than other professionals in psychology; however, it is located below the psychiatrist. Finally, the population shows a favorable attitude towards this profession, although fear is seen as an emotion associated with the treatment.