According to the Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), to humanize is “to make something less unpleasant and more suitable for people”. A more complex and complementary definition might be: “to make something more pleasant and responsive to their needs and desires in order to achieve the best possible life.” This definition implies placing something at the service of human beings to facilitate their personal fulfilment (Bermejo Higuera, 2014). Martín Urrialde (2021) defines humanization as “the approach of the healthcare system to the patient from a human perspective, enhancing empathy and integral care, as the patient is the raison d’être of the healthcare system and its professionals” (p. 309). The author also emphasizes the importance of treating the patient as a person, not reducing them merely to an illness or pathology. Busch et al. (2019) identify key elements of humanized health care as “respect for the patient’s dignity, uniqueness, individuality, and humanity, as well as adequate working conditions and sufficient human and material resources” (p. 461). Thus, to humanize means recognizing and protecting the intrinsic dignity of every person (Beesley, 2021) and humanizing healthcare systems, therefore, involves working toward a safer and more person-centered healthcare system, encompassing patients, families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. A humanized healthcare system is one in which the primary purpose is to serve people, designed and structured to provide appropriate care (Zhao et al., 2016). Meeting this challenge requires understanding that human beings are not merely bodies in need of repair. From both psychological and philosophical perspectives, that is, namely philosophical anthropology, people are the sum of their feelings, beliefs, values, aspirations, preferences, and relationships (Beorlegui, 2017; Pose, 2022). One of the most important factors in the humanization of healthcare systems is precisely the nature of interpersonal relationships (Reyes-Téllez et al., 2024). There is growing scientific evidence of the importance of interpersonal relationships in human health and quality of life (Szalados, 2021). Specifically, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the most extensive and comprehensive longitudinal studies ever conducted, aims to identify the factors which contribute to a long, healthy, and fulfilling life (Harvard Second Generation Study, n. d.). Among its findings, the quality of personal relationships stands out as the strongest predictor (Mineo, 2017). In recent decades, numerous scientific studies have focused on the importance of accompaniment within healthcare settings. A search for the term “accompaniment” on PubMed yields 1,428 results, seeing exponential growth in the last two decades. This number rises to 246,609 results when the search strategy is expanded to include various forms of accompaniment. Key issues related to the concept of accompaniment include its content, significance, evidence of its benefits for personal and professional well-being, and its specific impact across different sectors. Similarly, the relevance of accompaniment in university contexts has been highlighted by recent comparative analyses of programs implemented in Spanish institutions (García-Cardo et al., 2023).

The concept of humanization in healthcare has been the subject of rigorous academic analysis, highlighting its complexity and multidimensional nature. Rather than assuming a self-evident meaning, recent studies have applied systematic concept analysis methods to clarify its attributes and implications. For instance, Henao-Castaño et al. (2021), using Rodgers’ evolutionary method, define humanization as an integral approach that encompasses respect for dignity, person-centered care, and empathetic communication. Similarly, Taghinezhad et al. (2022) identify nine attributes of humanistic care in nursing, including presence, constructive interaction, and scientific competence. Ghanbari-Afra et al. (2022), following Walker and Avant’s method, reinforce these findings by emphasizing ethical commitment and relational quality as core elements. These studies share the following attributes of humanized care: respect for the dignity of the person and their rights, presence and person-centered care, empathetic and constructive communication, and scientific excellence. These analyses converge on the idea that humanization is not merely descriptive but normative, requiring deliberate strategies to integrate these attributes into professional practice and education.

In healthcare, interpersonal relationships can take different forms, each shaping how professionals and patients interact and collaborate. One example is the deliberative clinical relationship, in which professionals and patients work together to find the best possible course of action in the face of a health problem (Gracia and Lázaro, 2004; Seoane, 2016). Mentoring and tutoring focus on guiding less experienced professionals through advice and technical training (Álvarez-Montero et al., 2023), while coaching aims to enhance performance or achieve specific goals, whether for patients or healthcare staff (Todorova, 2022). Counseling is another approach, where a professional advises, guides, or counsels people with health problems (Hack et al., 2023). Although these approaches contribute to professional development and patient care, they tend to prioritize problem-solving or skill acquisition rather than the holistic or integral growth of the person. While these models offer valuable contributions to healthcare practice, they often operate within specific objectives—such as solving problems, improving performance, or transferring technical knowledge—without necessarily embracing a broader vision of personal development.

While these models offer valuable contributions to healthcare practice, they often operate within specific objectives—such as solving problems, improving performance, transferring technical knowledge, or developing both technical and transversal competencies—without necessarily embracing a broader vision of integral development of the person. This opens the door to a more comprehensive or integral perspective: accompaniment. Unlike approaches that focus primarily on tasks or outcomes, accompaniment proposes a relational paradigm oriented toward the integral growth of the person, encompassing both the accompanied and the accompanier. Accompaniment can be understood as a style of relationship or “a relational paradigm that responds to the growth of the person, both of the accompanied and of the accompanier” (González Iglesias, 2023, p. 21). As defined by Crespí and López (2023), it is “an intentional pedagogical action that aims to help and support people in their effort to know themselves and take decisions that favor their personal growth and development, with the necessary support in its implementation” (p. 2). A recent scoping review of academic publications reinforces this perspective, describing educational accompaniment as “an intentional educational action through which one person enlightens and supports another in their integral development, facilitating their autonomy, maturity, and realization of a fulfilling life” (López González et al., 2025, p. 1). Accompaniment is a relational process, that recognizes the unique value of each person, grounded in respect for dignity and freedom, and oriented toward integral development of the person (González-Iglesias and de la Calle Maldonado, 2020; Viñado Oteo and Miró López, 2022). However, the research of López González et al. (2025) indicates that, other relational practices—such as tutoring, mentoring, pedagogical guidance, and informal encounters—can be understood as forms or types of accompaniment when approached from a holistic perspective that seek the integral growth of the person being accompanied. This conceptual distinction justifies the focus of this study on accompaniment as a transformative strategy for humanizing healthcare education.

It is logical to think that the healthcare system needs to be humanized if there are indications the system itself harms those within it (professionals, patients, colleagues) or data suggesting that valuable expectations are not being met, expectations that promote the integral development of individuals. For example, a systematic review on global burnout rates among healthcare professionals found that more than one-third of public healthcare workers suffer from burnout (Nagarajan et al., 2024). Several studies have found that a high percentage of patients and health professionals considered the system to be lacking compassion (Francis, 2013; Henao-Castaño et al., 2021; Lown et al., 2011, 2017). Thus, “there is a lack of trust from patients toward the health care system, as well as feelings of stress, exhaustion, and fatigue among professionals” (Reyes-Téllez et al., 2024, p. 1). When a high percentage of patients and professionals believe that health systems are not compassionate, the only conclusion is that the quality of human relationships needs to be improved.

In the field of healthcare, accompaniment is essential not only in terms of care but also in aspects related to research. In this case, it involves addressing the training of researchers and the conduct of research in an integral manner. Furthermore, it means accompanying participants in clinical trials. This involves being by their side, keeping them informed, preventing them from feeling like mere objects of study, and ensuring they perceive themselves as people who are giving of themselves to foster scientific advances that benefit society, safeguarding their well-being and valuing the generous act they perform (Pietilä et al., 2019; Resnik, 2024).

The complexity of the problem is enormous and has been addressed by institutions such as the Picker Group, which conducts research to understand, evaluate and improve the experiences and needs of people in healthcare, ensuring that everyone involved in the healthcare system takes them into account. It analyzes the various needs of patients and professionals based on their experiences: from waiting lists, patients’ need to participate in health decision-making, to the well-being of professionals, a key factor in providing integral quality care (Picker Institute Europe, n.d.). Additionally, there is evidence that humanized medicine is cost-effective (Trzeciak and Mazzarelli, 2019). Humanizing healthcare is a complex process that includes addressing healthcare policies, culture, improving human relationships, professional training (Bermejo Higuera, 2014). In this regard, it is essential to consider the process of professional socialization, understood as the ongoing and dynamic process through which individuals internalize the knowledge, skills, attitudes, norms, and values that shape their professional identity (Jawula Salisu et al., 2019; Moon and Chang, 2023). This process is not only shaped by formal education but also by the influence of professional socializing agents—such as clinical teachers, mentors, and preceptors—who act as role models and play a key role in teaching transversal competences through example and relational experience (Jawula Salisu et al., 2019; Moon and Chang, 2023).

This study aims to contribute to the humanization of healthcare through an integral university program that produces more person-centered professionals (patients, family, team members, colleagues, administrative staff, etc.). The integral development of university students requires education in competences, both technical and transversal. Soft skills or transversal competences are considered an essential aspect of an integral education (Casanova Romero et al., 2020; Crespí et al., 2025a, b; Ruiz-Morales et al., 2017; Tejeda Díaz, 2016). They are also considered key competences for training professionals who are agents of humanization (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022; D’Ottavio, 2023; García-Salido et al., 2019; Henao-Castaño et al., 2021). The concept of competences refers to: “the dynamic set of knowledge (knowing), skills or abilities (knowing how to do), attitudes, values and universal principles (knowing how to be) that, internalized and embodied in our acts, behaviors or ways of doing, put us on the path to our own excellence, plenitude and happiness” (Crespí, 2018, p. 128). Specifically, the university program proposed in this study, aimed at educating a more humane professional, involves training in generic, transversal competences or soft skills. These competences are necessary for any discipline and are highly in demand in the professional field (Caggiano et al., 2020; Qizi, 2020; Tang, 2019; Tripathy, 2021). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, in their project called The Future of Education and Skills 2030 (OECD, 2018), and the European Commission (2017) also recognize the importance of these competences. In this regard, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) itself refers to the need to instill these competences (Martínez Clares and González Morga, 2018; Munuera Gómez and Navarro Asencio, 2015; Saravia Domínguez et al., 2024). However, in reality they are largely overlooked in the academic curricula of degree programs (Vera and Tejada, 2020; Reyes-Téllez et al., 2024). In fact, there is a noticeable lack of coherence between institutional declarations and the specific actions implemented to promote the development of transversal competences. The ability of universities to adequately train students in these competences demanded by the labor market has even been questioned (Igwe et al., 2022). Similarly, the training and development of these competences are not usually explicitly addressed in the various subjects within health sciences (Palés-Argullós and Nolla-Domenjó, 2016; Vargas and Zaldivar, 2023). Although evidence of their effectiveness is emerging (Donnon et al., 2013; Papadakis et al., 2005), work remains to be done regarding professionalism, compassion, communication, teamwork, and lifelong learning (Van der Vleuten, 2015).

Specifically, this study presents a curricular program in transversal competences integrated into the curriculum of students at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (UFV), with a special focus on students of health sciences. The aim is that such training will prepare them to be agents of humanization within healthcare systems. Therefore, the goal is to graduate professionals who possess the necessary transversal competences, both intra- and interpersonal, to establish satisfactory relationships with their future colleagues, patients, and colleagues, and who also have a personal experience of accompaniment, as defined above. In this regard, the main objective of the research is to determine the self-perception of UFV students regarding their transversal, intra- and interpersonal competences after the intervention conducted over three academic years, through the subject Skills and Competences of the Person (SCP). The choice to address the issue of humanization through a university integral program (SPC) is based on the understanding that humanized care requires more than technical competences—it demands the development of transversal competences. Integral education programs, such as SPC, are designed to foster transversal competences. Empirical evidence supports this approach: Reyes-Téllez et al. (2024) identified that training in communication is essential to overcoming barriers to humanized nursing care, while Tutor et al. (2023) demonstrated that early assessment and development of transversal competences in medical education significantly improve students’ attitudes toward patient-centered care. These findings reinforce the relevance of integral programs in cultivating professionals capable of delivering compassionate, respectful, and humanized healthcare.

The research hypotheses are as follows (H):

In healthcare, the term humanization typically refers to an integral and holistic approach to patient care (Henao-Castaño et al., 2021), involving an integrated consideration of the biological, psychological, social, and behavioral dimensions of the individual (Maestre, 2013; Ramos-Brieva et al., 2017). The lack of humanization in healthcare is the result of a complex series of interrelated and mutually influencing factors. These elements stem, in part, from the broader social framework and the ways in which healthcare institutions are structured and operate (March, 2017). Contributing factors include the lack of personalized and high-quality care, often caused by work overload and the mechanization of patient care, the absence of empathy resulting from stress and prolonged exposure to patient pain and suffering (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022; Jiménez-Rodríguez et al., 2019), moral disengagement (Jiménez-Rodríguez et al., 2019), and insufficient training in competences such as compassion (Henao-Castaño et al., 2021) and communication (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022; Reyes-Téllez et al., 2024). These factors can hinder healthcare professionals’ ability to establish an effective and human connection with their patients. Additionally, an overreliance on technology contributes to the deterioration of the doctor–patient relationship, leading to emotional distancing and a progressive loss of trust (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022). Moreover, these shortcomings are reflected in daily clinical practice and affect respect for patient privacy, autonomy, and rights (March, 2017; Ley 24/ 2002 del 14 de noviembre).

To address these challenges, it is essential to consider the formative dimension of healthcare professionals. The lack of humanization in clinical practice is closely linked to gaps in training, particularly in the development of transversal competences. Providing high-quality, integral training that enables professionals to deliver excellent care is considered a best practice in promoting humanization (Heras La Calle, 2017). This connection between professional behavior and educational background highlights the need for university programs that intentionally foster humanistic attitudes and interpersonal skills from the outset of professional training. Specifically, the humanization of healthcare is closely linked to the training and development of soft skills (Henao-Castaño et al., 2021), with communication playing a particularly significant and impactful role (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022; Gonçalves de Oliveira et al., 2006; Jiménez-Rodríguez et al., 2019). Soft skills, also referred to as generic or transversal competences, are highly in demand and essential in professional practice (Garavito-Hernández et al., 2024; Tang, 2019; Tripathy, 2021). These competences are also emphasized in the context of healthcare professionals (Vargas and Zaldivar, 2023), including those in medicine (D’Ottavio, 2023) and nursing (Álvarez et al., 2024). In Europe, leading organizations such as the AMEE (Association for Medical Education in Europe) and, in Spain, the Sociedad Española de Educación Médica (SEDEM), stress the importance and necessity of developing such competences [Sandars et al., 2014; Sociedad Española de Educación Médica (SEDEM), and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI), 2025]. In this regard, professional socialization plays a key role in shaping healthcare professionals’ identity and transversal competences, through both formal education and the influence of role models such as mentors and clinical teachers (Jawula Salisu et al., 2019; Moon and Chang, 2023).

With regard to the training and development of these types of competences in higher education, they are typically integrated into technical or discipline-specific subjects, most often through group work (Mwita et al., 2023; Tang, 2019), and more specifically, through active learning methodologies such as project-based learning (Fernández de Caleya et al., 2023), problem-based learning (Deep et al., 2019), and project-oriented learning (Crespí et al., 2022). Other approaches to fostering these competences include specialized training workshops (Yan et al., 2019), elective or complementary subjects (Villardón-Gallego, 2015), extracurricular activities (Feraco et al., 2023), the adoption of innovative educational strategies within the learning process (Pluzhnirova et al., 2021), mentoring or coaching (Crespí and López, 2023; Tang, 2019), game-based learning (García et al., 2020), and role-playing activities (Tang, 2019). What is far less common, however, is the inclusion of mandatory curricular subjects specifically designed to train these competences within study programs, as well as the availability of scientific evidence regarding their development. For this reason, the present study describes an original and innovative initiative that introduces a mandatory curricular subject aimed at the development of soft skills in higher education. Specifically, it focuses on the subject Integral Formation: Skills and Competences of the Person (SCP), as an educational intervention aimed at developing transversal competences that contribute to the humanization of professionals in the healthcare field. The SCP subject offers a structured curricular program that provides integral accompaniment, both individually, through mentoring, and collectively, within the classroom, aimed at first-year students from various degree programs across different faculties, including those in healthcare. The main objective was to assess the development of intra- and interpersonal competences before and after the educational intervention, using a validated self-report scale (Crespí and García-Ramos, 2023).

In this way, this research aims to study the formative impact of SCP on the self-perception of development of the intrapersonal transversal competences: self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-management (deep look subdimension), search for meaning in life, orientation to excellence, proactivity (personal development subdimension) and interpersonal transversal competences: cooperative work, work environment management, orientation towards results (teamwork subdimension), verbal communication, paraverbal and non-verbal communication and communication for encounter (effective communication subdimension), in university students, with a special focus on health sciences students.

The research findings indicate that, across the entire student sample from all faculties, the intrapersonal dimension showed a greater average improvement between the pre- and post-intervention assessments (Cohen’s d = 0.349) than the interpersonal dimension (Cohen’s d = 0.146), although both changes were statistically significant (p < 0.001). A multivariate analysis also revealed a significant and positive effect on scores in both dimensions (p < 0.001). These results are consistent with previous similar studies (Crespí, 2018; Crespí et al., 2025a, b). This study contributes further by disaggregating results by faculty, with particular attention given to Health Sciences, Medicine, and Experimental Sciences. Overall, the results suggest that the educational intervention (the SCP subject) is effective in improving students’ self-perception of soft skills development, skills that are key to the formation of professionals as agents of humanization within the healthcare system. Specifically, students appear to perceive the greatest development in the competences most in demand and most essential for professional practice in the healthcare field. These include: self-awareness (Cohen’s d = 0.499), self-acceptance (Cohen’s d = 0.261), within the deep look subdimension, search for meaning in life (Cohen’s d = 0.205), within the personal development subdimension, verbal communication (Cohen’s d = 0.280), Paraverbal and non-verbal communication (Cohen’s d = 0.232), both within the effective communication subdimension.

In this regard, Jiménez-Rodríguez et al. (2019) identify as a critical aspect of dehumanization the failure to see the person as a whole, instead “focusing on a part of the body without considering the entire organism and the patient’s mental states” (p. 87). In this sense, the subject appears to have had a notable impact on students’ perceived development of the deep look competence (Cohen’s d = 0.387), which refers to the ability to view others, oneself, and reality with all their possibilities, not only as they are now, but also in terms of what they may become. This is a perspective that acknowledges human dignity, viewing each person as valuable, unique, and unrepeatable, with infinite potential. Jiménez-Rodríguez et al. (2019) also highlight manifestations of dehumanization in non-verbal behaviors such as interactional distance, eye contact, and paraverbal aspects like speech rate and tone, which can communicate rejection. In this regard, the subject also appears to have had an impact on the development of communication skills, not only in terms of verbal language, but also in paraverbal and non-verbal aspects (Cohen’s d = 0.232). Among the competences most often cited as lacking among healthcare professionals are communication (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022; García-Salido et al., 2019; March, 2017), and more specifically, empathy (Condori Salluco and Choque Rojas, 2022; Jiménez-Rodríguez et al., 2019) and compassion (Henao-Castaño et al., 2021). Regarding the communication for encounter competence, within which the SCP subject develops empathy, assertiveness, and active listening, students also reported an increase in perceived development after completing the subject (Cohen’s d = 0.114). These are communication skills considered “key for students to acquire during their academic training” (D’Ottavio, 2023, p. 87).

On the other hand, when examining the progression within each faculty, that is, the differences between the pre- and post-intervention assessments, it is evident that the faculties showing the greatest improvement, surpassing the other faculties at UFV, are the Faculty of Experimental Sciences, with statistically significant differences in both dimensions (p < 0.001); the Faculty of Medicine, with significant differences in both the intrapersonal (p < 0.001) and interpersonal (p = 0.003) dimensions; and the Faculty of Health Sciences, with a significant difference in the intrapersonal dimension (p < 0.001). When comparing the degree of progress (difference between pre- and post-intervention) across faculties, the data show that, for both the intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions, the Faculty of Experimental Sciences reported the most substantial gains (Intrapersonal: ΔM = 5.8, SD = 9.0; Interpersonal: ΔM = 3.5, SD = 8.9), followed by the Faculty of Health Sciences (Intrapersonal: ΔM = 3.4, SD = 8.8; Interpersonal: ΔM = 1.3, SD = 8.7), and the Faculty of Medicine (Intrapersonal: ΔM = 2.3, SD = 8.3; Interpersonal: ΔM = 1.3, SD = 6.9). These were followed by the remaining faculties.

Regarding potential differences between cohorts, both at the pre-test and post-test stages, statistically significant differences were observed, with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate, and therefore considered to be of limited practical relevance.

In contrast, being over 18 years old, identifying as female, and belonging to the Faculties of Medicine or Health Sciences were all associated with significantly higher scores in one or both dimensions. Specifically, students from the Faculty of Medicine scored significantly higher than students from other faculties in both the intrapersonal (p = 0.010) and interpersonal (p < 0.001) dimensions. Similarly, students from the Faculty of Health Sciences also scored significantly higher than their peers in the interpersonal dimension (p = 0.025).

The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) university curricular subjects focused on skills and competences appear to be effective in fostering their development; (2) the competences with the greatest perceived development are associated with the subdimensions of deep look, personal development, and effective communication; (3) the competences with the least perceived development are linked to the teamwork subdimension, likely due to a high initial self-perception, which leaves less room for perceived improvement. This is further compounded by the complexity involved in developing this competence, an issue highlighted by students who noted that working in a group is not the same as working as a team (Szalados, 2021).

This study provides findings related to a unique and innovative initiative within the educational landscape of health sciences education, aimed at promoting the development of soft skills to foster the humanization of healthcare systems. Several official bodies (such as the OECD, EHEA, AMEE, and SEDEM), as well as scientific studies cited in this article (e.g., Palés-Argullós and Nolla-Domenjó, 2016; Vargas and Zaldivar, 2023; Martínez Clares and González Morga, 2018; Munuera Gómez and Navarro Asencio, 2015; Reyes-Téllez et al., 2024; Saravia Domínguez et al., 2024), support the promotion of continuous training in soft skills at the university level to advance “the humanization of healthcare as a guiding axis for policy improvement and quality of care, as well as in the cohort of practices that facilitate collaborative work, communication, and human development” (Henao-Castaño et al., 2021, p. 84). The results of this study, together with the curricular educational proposal of the SCP subject, may serve as a valid and transferable example for other university curricular contexts.

This study presents a number of limitations: