Representación semántica del concepto "humanismo" en estudiantes de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Background: To know the way in which the student conceptualized Humanism enables the professor of Psychiatry to use strategies that foster humanistic attitudes in their students that will affect their job performance. Objective: Analyze the process of restructuring the concept of humanism by students. Method: It is a longitudinal qualitative study during five years, with annual cross-sections, with students of the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in Mexico City of Applied natural semantic networks The analysis included: 1) The total words generated by the students on humanism, 2) The frequency with which these were used, 3) The semantic value of the words, 4) The percentage distance, and 5) The formation of groups based on their conceptual similarity. Results: An average of 725 words was obtained during the five years of their career In first and second year, the words that stood out were ‘man’ and ‘help’; in the third year they were “male” and “understanding”; in fourth year, ‘man’ and ‘culture’; and in the fifth year, “man”, “understanding”, “help” and “person”. The words are grouped into five categories: 1) feelings, values and attitudes, 2) knowledge, 3) participants, 4) activities and 5) disciplines. Conclusions: The seven defining words that are prevalent throughout the study were integrated to form the following defini tion: humanism as one that: “focuses on man as a supplier of help and understanding in a society based on ethics, culture, and love”. Results provide information for decision-making on education, organization of content, selection of texts and implementation of learning strategies.