The President of the Ordem dos Psicólogos (OPP) attended the 9th National Congress of Psychology in Health, "Promotion of Health and Chronic Diseases: challenges in the promotion of health". The event, promoted by the Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicologia da Saúde (Portuguese Society of Psychology of Health (SPPS) managed by Prof. José Luís Pais Ribeiro, was organised by Universidade de Aveiro, the city in which the event took place last week. The President of the Organising Committee was Prof. Anabela Pereira, from Universidade de Aveiro.

During the opening session, Telmo Mourinho Baptista made it clear that the national promotion of work in the area of health psychology is great and of high quality, showing the relevant contribution that the psychologists make towards the health of citizens. He also mentioned, however, that, in spite of this quality ”there is no adequate expression in the number of professionals that exist in the health sector”. There are also other issues which are important to the assertiveness of Psychology in the area of health, such as operating with complete scientific, technical and organisational autonomy and the existence of psychological acts tables which can be applied to health contexts, all aspects which have kept the Order occupied.

The 9th National Congress of Psychology in Health turned out to be an event with much participation, where many and various works in health psychology could be seen.