Abstract:

The increasing complexity of care settings highlights the urgent need for professionals capable of integrating technical and scientific competencies with advanced soft skills such as empathy, active listening, effective communication, stress management, interprofessional collaboration, and critical reflexivity. From this perspective, Medical Humanities (MH) provide a theoretical and pedagogical framework that supports a person-centered model of care, oriented toward considering the patient as a whole person.

In international contexts, Medical Humanities (MH) have developed as an alternative strategy to the increasing technologization of healthcare systems, highlighting the value of clinical narrative, visual arts, theatre, and reflective writing in enhancing professionals’ interpretative and relational capacities. In rehabilitation settings—characterised by long-term care pathways and multidisciplinary teamwork—these skills are particularly crucial. To achieve patient motivation and shared education/rehabilitation goals professionals are required high communicative, relational skills, supported by critical reflection.

Despite this, the systematic integration of Medical Humanities (MH) into Italian healthcare education remains fragmented. Humanistic (and pedagogical) contents are often treated as complementary rather than as an integral component of the whole curriculum, thereby limiting the development of a truly relationship-oriented professional culture. The lifelong learning perspective provides an appropriate conceptual framework for positioning MH as a stable resource for organisational well-being and quality of care, while also contributing to burnout prevention and supporting ongoing professional development.

The article presents an exploratory study aimed at understanding how rehabilitation professionals perceive the value of Medical Humanities (MH) and which educational and training needs emerge for the development of soft skills and reflective competencies within a lifelong learning perspective.

Alongside the assessment of individual perceptions, the study includes a preliminary review of the national Continuing Medical Education (ECM) offer to evaluate the extent to which existing courses incorporate content related to MH or the development of soft skills. Despite the recent growth of programs addressing organizational well-being and communication in healthcare, training specifically oriented toward MH in care and rehabilitation contexts remains sporadic and poorly coordinated, widening the gap between theoretical awareness and concrete educational opportunities.

Main tool is a semi-structured questionnaire administered to physiotherapists, nurses, speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and educators with at least one year of experience. The questionnaire explores levels of awareness, practical difficulties, previous exposure to humanistic education and training, and the teaching strategies considered most effective. It also includes a section dedicated to ECM courses attended and perceived as useful.

The ultimate goal is to generate preliminary evidence to guide the development of interdisciplinary education and training pathways integrating technical, behavioural, relational, social and ethical competencies, fostering a more human and sustainable model of care, contributing to burnout prevention and improving the perspective of lifelong learning.

Keywords:

Soft skills, Lifelong Learning, Care contexts.