IEO European Institute of Oncology
Where research becomes treatment in real time
Medicine should not view the patient as a machine in need of repair, since illness is not just physical damage but a mental experience which often goes beyond the boundaries of the individual to reach parents, children, loved ones, besides, of course, the physician.
Every patient, relative, physician is first and foremost a person with his or her convictions, values, desires, fears and anxieties.
Clinical Activity
Since 2012 Gabriella Pravettoni has beenthe Director of the Psycho-Oncology Division at IEO, where she supervises clinical cases and formulates and assesses psychological treatments for cancer patients.
The Division promotes an interdisciplinary approach which aims to develop new strategies for the development and monitoring of cognitive, psychological and social processes emerging in cancer patients, at the moment of diagnosis and during the entire period of therapy, until the end of therapy and the follow-up phase.
The Division carries out research and clinical activity in the field of personalized medicine, which takes into consideration, in addition to strictly medical aspects, also the analysis and interpretation of cognitive (a need for information, decisional preferences, beliefs and knowledge about illness and health), psychological (level of stress, anxiety, depression) and behavioural (lifestyle) components of patients, aiming to increase their participation in the treatment process, their compliance and the global satisfaction.
Scientific Activity
The scientific activity is mainly directed towardsa closer examination of various aspects of cognitive psychology and health psychology with a focus on issues pertaining to decision making in medicine and patient empowerment.
At the IEO, Professor Pravettoni has conducted research activity within ambit of the European project “P-Medicine“, aimed at the implementation of a decision-making tool which supports physician-patient interaction, highlighting and enhancing individual characteristics involved in the decision-making process.
The P-Medicine project concluded in July 2015. Gabriella Pravettoni is currently working on the European Project, financed within the Horizon 2020 program, “iManageCancer: Empowering patients and strengthening self-management in cancer diseases“.
The project involves the collaboration of eight European countries, and it aims to develop a cancer disease self-management platform.
The platform provides a program of a dynamic collection of clinical and psychological patient data, through which patients and physicians can interact, communicate and make decisions remotely.
Thanks to this platform, the professionals involved in the care program will be able to regularly checkthe status of the patient, while the patient and his or her family will be able to share the information regarding the disease and its trend through specific reports shared online.
Applications which are included within the platform dialogue with patientsaccording to their clinical and psychological profile, and train and support the patients themselves, thereby fostering their empowerment and disease management.