While there is an increasing awareness regarding the culture of humanization, which is strongly needed in the healthcare environment, little knowledge has been provided in relation to accurate strategies to teach humanization skills to healthcare undergraduate students, as well as to healthcare professionals. Furthermore, the usefulness of new technologies to improve humanization skills has hardly been addressed so far in the scientific literature, including promising strategies such as Metaverse-related technologies. Presumably, this is the first systematic review focused on the efficacy of Metaverse-related technologies to increase the acquisition of humanization skills in the healthcare environment. The purpose of this study was to review the scientific studies published in the last decade to answer the following two questions: (1) are Metaverse-related technologies useful in enhancing humanization skills in the healthcare environment? (2) What are the advantages and disadvantages that should be addressed to successfully develop Metaverse-related technologies in the healthcare sector? We conducted a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature from EBSCO, Ovid, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (WOS), following the PRISMA statements and using the following keywords: “humanization + Metaverse”; “humanization + mixed reality”; “humanization + extended reality”; “humanization + augmented reality”; “humanization + virtual reality”; “humanization + app”; “humanization + telemedicine”; “humanization + digital health”; “humanization + eHealth”; “humanization + telehealth”; “humanization + web-based”; “humanization + website”; “humanization + digital”; “humanization + online”; and “humanization + internet”. Studies published from 2012 to the present, written in the English language, were reviewed. A total of 505 records were obtained, of which three were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results will be helpful in developing new strategies to improve humanization skills in the health sphere.

Objectives: The need to incentivize the humanization of healthcare providers coincides with the development of a more technological approach to medicine, which gives rise to depersonalization when treating patients. Currently, there is a culture of humanization that reflects the awareness of health professionals, patients, and policy makers, although it is unknown if there are university curricula incorporating specific skills in humanization, or what these may include. Therefore, the objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to identify what type of education in humanization is provided to university students of Health Sciences using digital technologies; and (2) determine the strengths and weaknesses of this education. The authors propose a curriculum focusing on undergraduate students to strengthen the humanization skills of future health professionals, including digital health strategies. Methods: A systematic review, based on the scientific literature published in EBSCO, Ovid, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, over the last decade (2012–2022), was carried out in November 2022. The keywords used were “humanization of care” and “humanization of healthcare” combined both with and without “students”. Results: A total of 475 articles were retrieved, of which 6 met the inclusion criteria and were subsequently analyzed, involving a total of 295 students. Three of them (50%) were qualitative studies, while the other three (50%) involved mixed methods. Only one of the studies (16.7%) included digital health strategies to train humanization. Meanwhile, another study (16.7%) measured the level of humanization after training. Conclusions: There is a clear lack of empirically tested university curricula that combine education in humanization and digital technology for future health professionals. Greater focus on the training of future health professionals is needed, in order to guarantee that they begin their professional careers with the precept of medical humanities as a basis.

There is an increasing awareness about body image disturbance and eating disorders which calls for a multidisciplinary approach. The usefulness of new technologies for improving body image distortion has been addressed in the scientific literature, but has not included current strategies such as Metaverse-related technologies. Seemingly, this is the first systematic review which focuses on the efficacy of Metaverse-related technologies in reducing body image disturbance related to eating disorders like Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa. The main objective of this study was to review the scientific studies published in the last decade to answer the following three questions: (1) Are Metaverse-related technologies useful in mitigating body image disturbance in patients diagnosed with Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa? (2) What are the advantages and disadvantages? (3) Are the patients satisfied after using this kind of technology? The results obtained were that 80% of the included studies found metaverse-related technologies useful for the improvement in body image disturbance, in addition to various advantages, such as a decrease in eating disorder symptomatology. Whereas patient satisfaction was only evaluated in 20% of the included studies, with the majority of patients evaluating the use of metaverse-related technologies positively. We will conduct a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature from EBSCO Discovery Service, and Web of Science (WOS), following the PRISMA statements. Only Journal articles published from 2013 to the present, written in the English language, will be reviewed. The findings are expected to offer valuable insights for the development of novel approaches for the improvement in body image disturbance in healthcare settings.