A aprendizagem na concepção humanista de Carl Rogers e sua contribuição para o desenvolvimento das atitudes dos estudantes de graduação em medicina da UFSM

Abstract

The primary objective of medical school is the integral formation of a student, with competence in problem solving and capable of continuing education. Therefore, this student must present technical and scientific knowledge, values, skills and positive attitudes, in addition to actively participate in the construction of knowledge. Attitudes are rules that determine habitual actions even under different circumstances, and are required for mediation between competence and clinical practice. Studies show that learning influences behavior and the development of attitudes, which may impact on the quality of medical care. It is not well established how to teach attitudes, and in the literature are found few articles reporting on the influence of humanism in the development of attitudes. In this way, the experiences in this field of research are heterogeneous, which increases the difficulty in integrating humanistic themes to health education purposes. The humanistic psychology, with the pioneering of Carl Rogers, brought significant contributions to education through active and student-centered learning. This contrasts with the traditional learning, focused only on the professor, the content and the evaluation. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of Carl Rogers humanism concept through (1) the positive qualities of authenticity, appreciation, trust and empathy of the teacher and (2) the principles of significant learning in changing the attitudes of 7th semester undergraduate medical students from the Federal University of Santa Maria. The sample consisted of 42 students who participated in weekly meeting groups. A questionnaire was applied to evaluate the attitudes before and after the Rogerian intervention during the second semester of 2014, to determine whether there has been a modification in attitudes in five dimensions, according to the National Curriculum Guidelines: Social, ambience, belief, knowledge and ethical. The results showed that the Rogerian intervention significantly influenced the development of positive attitudes within the belief dimension. There was increase in the attitude score in all dimensions, showing positive tendency between the beginning and end of the study. No student showed negative attitudes in all dimensions. The students whose profile showed positive attitudes in all dimensions were from the female gender, whose fathers and mothers had higher education degree. These students also used books and journals as complementary source of studies and dedicated a time equal to or greater than six hours per week to study. It can be concluded that Carl Rogers humanistic principles may be properly used without causing discomfort or threat to both the students and the teacher. The student-centered teaching is not a method or a theory, but a style in the teacher-student relationship, in which the formative aspect outweighs the informative one. Much of what Rogers proposed can be used for the development of positive attitudes in medical undergraduate students.