Health humanization is one of the major politics of the health sector, currently being implemented in our country. The authors relate humanization with health promotion. Promoting health and humanizing health care are long term and continuous efforts, which are dynamic and closely related with the context in which they are brought in. The diagnosis is critical for the proposition of actions and for adequate interventions, while monitoring and evaluating these interventions can guarantee the actions support. As the actions and activities involved are much complex, diagnosing, monitoring and evaluating must be approached in an amplified way that includes the process's "reasons" and "means". In order to achieve that, the article highlights the utility of multiple methods (quantitative and qualitative), focusing on the qualitative approach. Some considerations concerning this research methodology are presented, including "sampling" strategies, the most used techniques (interview, focal group and observation) and material analysis. In that way, the authors intend to contribute to administrators' and health professionals' improvement in situation diagnoses (which aid decisions on future strategies) as well as in accompanying and evaluating the implemented actions in order to bring about adequate modifications.
Health Humanization; Health Promotion; Qualitative Research; Program Monitoring; Politics Evaluation; Situation Diagnosis