From the Guidelines
To address relatedness need dissatisfaction in patients, particularly those with cancer, it is crucial to prioritize building and maintaining meaningful relationships with family, peers, and healthcare professionals, as this can significantly impact their psychological well-being and quality of life. This approach is supported by the study 1, which highlights the importance of social support, including family members, friends, healthcare providers, and other patients, in helping adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer cope with their condition and overcome feelings of loneliness.
Key strategies to address relatedness need dissatisfaction include:
- Scheduling regular check-ins with friends and family, either in person or virtually, to maintain connections.
- Joining community organizations, clubs, or volunteer groups that align with the patient's values and interests, providing opportunities for social interaction and connection.
- Practicing active listening and vulnerability in conversations to deepen existing relationships.
- Utilizing technology mindfully to maintain connections through video calls or messaging, while balancing this with in-person interactions when possible.
- Creating rituals or traditions with important people in the patient's life to strengthen bonds.
The study 1 also emphasizes the role of peer support programs in assisting AYA patients and survivors in establishing and maintaining relationships with their healthy peers as well as with other AYA patients with cancer. These programs offer opportunities to achieve age-related developmental tasks, such as building interpersonal and problem-solving skills, and promote positive psychosocial growth.
Furthermore, the importance of addressing distress and unmet needs in patients with cancer is underscored by the study 1, which recommends routine screening and management of distress as an integral part of whole-person cancer care. The study 1 also highlights the need for comprehensive, evidence-based assessment of distress experienced by patients and caregivers, and the importance of supportive care in optimizing overall physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and cultural functioning.
In terms of specific interventions, the study 1 suggests that counseling, reflexology, and nursing interventions to manage breathlessness and other symptoms can be beneficial in improving quality of life and reducing distress in patients with lung cancer. However, more research is needed to determine the most effective interventions and to address the unique needs of patients with lung cancer across the age, socioeconomic, cultural, and illness spectrum.
Overall, addressing relatedness need dissatisfaction in patients with cancer requires a multifaceted approach that prioritizes building and maintaining meaningful relationships, addressing distress and unmet needs, and providing comprehensive, evidence-based care.
From the Research
Implications of Unmet Relatedness Needs
The implications of unmet relatedness needs in patients with dissatisfaction can be understood through various studies.
- Unmet relatedness needs can lead to decreased motivation, positive affect, and motor learning in adolescents, as found in a study that tested the effects of social relatedness on task learning 2.
- Relatedness need dissatisfaction can significantly predict the presence of dark personalities, which is mediated by prevention focus, and this mediating effect is stronger when depression levels are lower 3.
- Unmet relatedness needs can also lead to increased Facebook usage as a coping strategy, whereas connection results from greater usage 4.
- Furthermore, the satisfaction of relatedness needs is critical for supporting well-being, particularly happiness and depressive symptoms, and social support from spouses and friends has the most robust associations with these outcomes 5.
- Additionally, person-level relatedness can influence how individuals value additional or new experiences of relatedness, with those who have experienced more relatedness in their lives reporting more incremental value from social encounters 6.