Social representations relate new knowledge and ideas that are presented to the subject to existing values, ideas and theories in the background and internalized culture, seeking to build a common reality to a social group. Therefore, this research aims to identify the elements that constitute the representation of hospitalized users of the humanization of care. It is a qualitative research whose subjects were fifteen hospitalized users in the medical clinic department at a federal university hospital, on the municipality of Rio de Janeiro - RJ. Individual interview and systematic observation were used to generate data. The conceptions of the subjects on humanization refer both to the relationships between professionals and users in care and to management and politics of healthcare. In this sense, the logical construction of users' ideas about humanization derives from objective (management, change in practices and behaviors) and subjective (empathic, professional-client relationship and emotional issues) reasons. This fact indicates that humanization has a broader aspect, which traverses in a more general way the involved social groups, and a narrower aspect which responds to the situational contexts of everyday experiences of the subjects. It can be concluded that the humanization of care is closely related to the binomial health and society, society understood as the context in which are inserted the individuals participating in the process, as well as expression of healthcare policies and as an object to be searched as a worthy condition of life.
Nursing; Humanization of Assistance; Psychology; Social