Abstract This research investigates the current practices of psychologists in Brazilian hospitals and their intentions to adopt new guidelines. A sample of hospital psychologists ( n = 168) responded to an online questionnaire about their current clinical practices and their intentions to implement specific hospital psychology guidelines. The findings reveal that, although some practices are well established, there is a notable lack of standardized guidelines in hospital psychology. Participants expressed the need for better workload distribution and the creation of standardized guidelines to enhance evidence-based practices. Intentions to implement guideline-based practices were generally high, suggesting broad professional endorsement and perceived appropriateness of standardization; however, this pattern also indicates a ceiling effect that may constrain prediction by individual and institutional variables. Institutional characteristics (Hospital Management and Hospital Size) showed marginal associations with intentions, whereas individual professional characteristics did not show reliable differences in this sample. Importantly, endorsement should not be conflated with implementation: although the findings suggest feasibility and readiness at the professional level, the translation of guideline recommendations into routine practice likely depends on organizational conditions (e.g., staffing, workload distribution, leadership support, training, documentation systems, and monitoring). These results primarily provide a descriptive and implementation-relevant baseline to inform subsequent guideline refinement of hospital psychology guidelines in Brazil and motivate subsequent pragmatic implementation research focused on feasibility, fidelity, and patient-, caregiver-, and team-relevant outcomes.
Sá-Serafim et al. (Tue,) studied this question.