Abstract:

The contribution proposes an integrated reading of the results of two researches conducted within the degree courses for health professionals of the University of Naples "Federico II". In total, 170 students were involved and produced papers starting from the questions "What is time?” and “What is hope?”; two open and ambiguous questions, considering that only a state of perplexity, doubt and cognitive difficulty can generate knowledge. The narratives were analysed using the T-LAB software.

From the research conducted it is possible to draw some reflections on the points of intersection between the concepts of temporality and hope in the experience of health professionals in training. Hopefulness, as a relational category, is always referred to the Other and intimately linked to the concept of intersubjectivity. In the words of the students, hopefulness is universal, common and personal. It is, therefore, both absolute and relative, not necessarily identified with optimistic and positive values. Absolute hopefulness is intimate, reserved, silent and is resolved precisely in the encounter between two subjectivities, not remaining stranded in the past but open to the future, initiating a temporal integration, a sort of "memory of the future".

Hope is perceived now as a motivational drive inherent in the individual, now as a feeling subordinated to the circumstances. The feeling of hope connotes a dimension of living and is also a factor promoting knowledge and progress since, even if besieged by risks, it allows thought to unfold and reason to free itself from the concreteness and limits of the present, all reaching out towards “the not yet become”.

Specifically, the analysis of the narratives has highlighted, in addition to the connection of hopefulness with intersubjectivity and temporality, that with fear and desire, returning an understanding derived from the daily experience of care professionals in training, from their intuition and empathy.

The results clearly show how much the training of health professionals requires a greater conjugation of the cognitive and relational dimensions, to facilitate independent thinking and understanding of complex aspects of the professional path. It is important to identify teaching strategies that involve students and their critical thinking, allowing them to develop disciplinary, reflective and emotion management skills that work with the other's mind determines, through devices capable of motivating and expanding their prospect.

The inclusion of psycho-pedagogical disciplines in the study plan of the health professionals is an opportunity to develop and improve the students' ability to reflect in and on the course of action. On the international scene, the Medical Humanities represent the most effective interdisciplinary attempt for medical-health education, placing the notions of training, narration and reflexivity at the centre and proposing a humanistic orientation to care, restored in its complexity and existential depth.

Keywords:

Healthcare, Medical Humanities, psycho-pedagogical training, Narrative methods, Awareness processes.