Emotions in Hospital School Professionals: An Approach from Cognitive Linguistics

Abstract

The question that frames this work is: What evidence of the emotional impact of working in hospital schools is found in the metaphorical language used by the professionals who work there? The purpose of this research is to contribute to the understanding of the emotions of professionals working in these schools. The methodology used is based on a qualitative approach and is framed within the descriptive paradigm, approached from linguistics and cognitive metaphor The metaphorical expressions analyzed were extracted from the presentations and dialogue tables (of professionals from 12 countries) held during the I International Seminar on Hospital Pedagogy organized by the Universidad del Bío-Bío (Chile) in May 2021. A total of 24 metaphors were analyzed and 13 are presented in this article. The metaphors found allowed us to identify conceptual domains of origin such as: “war”, “trip”, “heat”, “field” (among others), which allowed us to understand the emotional effects that work in hospital schools has on professionals. The results obtained allow us to provide inputs to focus in a more pertinent way on the preparation of these professionals in the control of their emotions for multidisciplinary work relationships and with children and their families.