The 14th International Congress of the Spanish Society of Palliative Care (SECPAL), held between 17 and 19 October in Malaga, was also attended by researchers from the WeCare Chair, who gave several presentations focusing on the Chair's main lines of research.
As Dr Cristina Monforte pointed out at the beginning of the Congress, as coordinator of the Scientific Committee, "Aware of the key role of palliative care in the new public health paradigm, we wanted to define a programme for the conference with a markedly interdisciplinary, scientific, international, inclusive and integrating character". Furthermore, she added, “Thanks to the various conferences and workshops, the latest research developments in palliative care and the projects being developed by the different SECPAL working groups are more visible than ever before”.
In this regard, the group of researchers of the WeCare Chair actively participated in the congress by presenting scientific papers that illustrate the cutting-edge research being carried out at the University. Among the papers presented was “Analysis of Euthanasia in Europe in 2022”, led by Blanca Goñi together with researchers from the Chair. Goñi is also the lead author of another study presented at the Congress, entitled “Development of the Revised Version of the Clinical Guide for Multidimensional Needs Assessment in Palliative Care (MAP): MAP-R”.
Also presented were the studies "The therapeutic potential of audiovisual fiction viewing in patients at the end of life: an integrative systematic review", led by Chair researchers Raquel Ibáñez and Andrea Rodríguez, together with Pedro Sigaud, researcher and dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at UIC Barcelona; and the work "Talking about death with palliative care patients: an integrative systematic review", carried out by Aina García Salanova in collaboration with Andrea Rodríguez and Cristina Monforte. Finally, the work presented by Raquel Ibáñez entitled "Viewing audiovisual content as a therapeutic tool for patients in healthcare centres", was awarded the first prize in the category of Final Master's Project.
Meanwhile, Dr Joaquim Julià made an outstanding contribution to the plenary session where he presented the paper "Multidisciplinary assessment of needs in palliative care", offering a comprehensive view of the importance of multidimensional assessment in patients with advanced diseases. In addition, Julià was responsible for coordinating one of the parallel round tables entitled "The wish to hasten death (WTHD) in patients with advanced disease", in which researchers from the Chair presented two papers: "First year of euthanasia: A comprehensive review", by Andrea Rodríguez, and "Evaluation of results of an online course on management of WTHD", presented by Dr Joaquim Julià.
As such, the WeCare Chair consolidates its role as a reference in the field of palliative care, making a significant contribution to the research and development of new tools and methodologies that improve the quality of life of patients at the end of life.
The 14th International Congress of SECPAL, held under the slogan "Palliative Care Essential for Public Health," brought together health and social work professionals from around the globe. The event provided a forum for sharing experiences, debating issues, and exchanging views on how to address the challenges of the new public health paradigm, in which palliative care is a fundamental component of promoting the health of society in a holistic way, especially in the final stage of life.
