•    The 11^th Chilean Conference on Psychology was organized by the Network of Schools of Psychology of the Consortium of State Universities of Chile and it was held at Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

​

For the second time the 11^th Chilean Conference on Psychology of the Consortium of State Universities (Cuech, in Spanish) was organized by Universidad de Santiago. On this occasion, the core topic of the conference was “Ethics and diversity in transformation times.” Dr Mario Morales Navarro, Head of the School of Psychology of Universidad de Santiago and president of the organizing committee, analyzed the conclusions of the meeting and the challenges that they will face in the future.

“We issued a document that expresses our agreement about the minimal training requirements for Psychology students who graduate from State universities, regarding the skills, specific competences, attitudes and values that should be included in each curriculum. This is a very important achievement,” he said.

Besides acknowledging their commitment to continue working on specific areas of this discipline - like diversity, equity, social climate, welfare, sexual offences and work-related stress- Dr Morales highlighted the essential factors for the proper functioning of the Network, which should have a more important role in the country to generate different actions with real impact and where psychologists can actively participate in the development of public policies.

He anticipated that the heads of the different schools of Psychology will meet again in Universidad de Santiago on January 06^th, 2017, to develop a strategic work plan. “Although each university has its own international network, as a Cuech network, it is important for us to build links with institutions in Latin America, USA and Europe,” he said. He also confirmed that the next Conference will be held at Universidad de La Serena.

850 people attended the Conference, including academics and students, both from Chile and abroad, who met for three days in different places of our campus. The activities involved 120 presentations, 22 symposia, 10 lectures and 40 scientific poster presentations related to different areas of psychology.

Burnout and quality of life at work

Among the international lecturers invited to the Conference, the American psychologist Dr Christina Maslach, professor at the Department of Psychology and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at the University of California Berkeley, gave a presentation called “Understanding burnout: Current issues.”

Dr Maslach is one of the most renowned experts in job burnout and she is also the author of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the most widely used research measure in the burnout field.

For his part, the prominent Spanish researcher, Dr Pedro Gil-Monte, professor of Psychology at the Universitat de València and head of Unipsico at the same university, gave the lecture “Psicología de la Salud Ocupacional: acciones para promover la salud mental en el trabajo.”

“This area of Psychology should focus on quality of life at work; on intervention actions, like promotion, prevention and treatment; and it should affect organizations, individuals, work and the work process,” he explained. He said that it is necessary to develop basic research, descriptive studies to show evidence and develop evaluation instruments to measure work-related stress.

Opening ceremony

During the Conference opening ceremony, Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi invited the audience to promote interuniversity research to meet the needs of the country. “This Conference is a yearly touchstone not only for people related to the field of Psychology, but also for many professionals and academics in a broader area of Social Sciences,” referring to the integration of related disciplines like Communications, Health and Sociology.

Marco Barraza Gómez, social and clinical psychologist form Universidad de Santiago and Minister of Social Development, was specially invited to give the opening speech.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•    The 11^th Chilean Conference on Psychology was organized by the Network of Schools of Psychology of the Consortium of State Universities of Chile and it was held at Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

​

For the second time the 11^th Chilean Conference on Psychology of the Consortium of State Universities (Cuech, in Spanish) was organized by Universidad de Santiago. On this occasion, the core topic of the conference was “Ethics and diversity in transformation times.” Dr Mario Morales Navarro, Head of the School of Psychology of Universidad de Santiago and president of the organizing committee, analyzed the conclusions of the meeting and the challenges that they will face in the future.

“We issued a document that expresses our agreement about the minimal training requirements for Psychology students who graduate from State universities, regarding the skills, specific competences, attitudes and values that should be included in each curriculum. This is a very important achievement,” he said.

Besides acknowledging their commitment to continue working on specific areas of this discipline - like diversity, equity, social climate, welfare, sexual offences and work-related stress- Dr Morales highlighted the essential factors for the proper functioning of the Network, which should have a more important role in the country to generate different actions with real impact and where psychologists can actively participate in the development of public policies.

He anticipated that the heads of the different schools of Psychology will meet again in Universidad de Santiago on January 06^th, 2017, to develop a strategic work plan. “Although each university has its own international network, as a Cuech network, it is important for us to build links with institutions in Latin America, USA and Europe,” he said. He also confirmed that the next Conference will be held at Universidad de La Serena.

850 people attended the Conference, including academics and students, both from Chile and abroad, who met for three days in different places of our campus. The activities involved 120 presentations, 22 symposia, 10 lectures and 40 scientific poster presentations related to different areas of psychology.

Burnout and quality of life at work

Among the international lecturers invited to the Conference, the American psychologist Dr Christina Maslach, professor at the Department of Psychology and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at the University of California Berkeley, gave a presentation called “Understanding burnout: Current issues.”

Dr Maslach is one of the most renowned experts in job burnout and she is also the author of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the most widely used research measure in the burnout field.

For his part, the prominent Spanish researcher, Dr Pedro Gil-Monte, professor of Psychology at the Universitat de València and head of Unipsico at the same university, gave the lecture “Psicología de la Salud Ocupacional: acciones para promover la salud mental en el trabajo.”

“This area of Psychology should focus on quality of life at work; on intervention actions, like promotion, prevention and treatment; and it should affect organizations, individuals, work and the work process,” he explained. He said that it is necessary to develop basic research, descriptive studies to show evidence and develop evaluation instruments to measure work-related stress.

Opening ceremony

During the Conference opening ceremony, Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi invited the audience to promote interuniversity research to meet the needs of the country. “This Conference is a yearly touchstone not only for people related to the field of Psychology, but also for many professionals and academics in a broader area of Social Sciences,” referring to the integration of related disciplines like Communications, Health and Sociology.

Marco Barraza Gómez, social and clinical psychologist form Universidad de Santiago and Minister of Social Development, was specially invited to give the opening speech.

Translated by Marcela Contreras