III CONGRESO IBEROAMERICANO DE PSICOLOGÍA DE LA SALUD

Elvira Cicognani received the PhD degree in Developmental Social Psychology from the University of Padua (I) in 1995. From 1997 to 2004 she was Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at the Faculty of  Psychology of the University of Bologna, and since 2004 she is Associate Professor of Social and Community Psychology. Her research interests are in the area of community psychology (sense of community, participation, well being) and health psychology (prevention of risk behaviour and promotion of healthy lifestyles; quality of life in chronic illness).  He is currently President of the Italian Health Psychology Society and has been member of the Executive Committee of the European Health  Psychology Society (EHPS) (2010-2012) and National Delegate of Italy at the EHPS (since 2007). She has been consultant for the European Commission in the area of Youth Policies, and member of the Steering Committee of the EU anti-smoking campaign “Ex-Smokers are Unstoppable”.

The symposium aims to provide an overview of the theoretical and empirical developments of the discipline of Health Psychology and its professionalization in Italy, particularly after the establishment of the Italian Society of Health Psychology (SIPSa) in 1997. It will include three presentations focusing on three key domains and context of research and intervention that have seen a significant growth, and on the challenges that they are currently facing: health services, educational and school settings and the community.