Patient's Psychological and Sociological Needs - Case Study Example

Continued from s attached file’s content… After completely assessing the patient’s psychology and case history, I can say that the patient has a wide range of psychological and sociological needs. According to my observations, some of the most influencing and prominent psychological needs of Mrs. Jennings include coming out of fear of injuries due to accident, increasing the sense of hope, motivation to do everything she likes, and getting out of fear of death. Whereas the sociological needs of Mrs. Jennings include meeting her children who have moved since their marriages, taking care of her dependent husband like before, taking care of her beloved grandchildren, continue to participate in social activities, and maintaining her status in the society. Let’s talk about Mrs. Jennings’s psychological and sociological needs in some detail. Psychological Needs 1. Coming out of Fear of Injuries Due to Accident One of most important psychological needs of Mrs. Jennings is to come out of fear of accident. I have observed that she has a great fear in her mind regarding accidents. She thinks that her life has totally changed due to the accident and she can do nothing due to her injuries. She understands the fact that injuries are part of life and they make a person mentally strong and able to face any kind of difficult situation in life but her physical condition is making her feel negative about her condition. 2. Increasing the Sense of Hope Another psychological need of Mrs. Jennings is that of increasing the hope. As far as I have guessed, she has lost all of her hope and thinks that she won’t be able to move in the society now because of her terrible condition. As a patient, she is quite right because a patient always gets worried about the future life. But Mrs. Jennings needs some hope and expectations that she will soon get rid of her diseases and will be able to move in the society as before. Sociological Needs 1. Meeting her Children One of her most important sociological needs is that she wants to meet her children who have left the home after their marriages. Loving the children is natural for all human beings and Mrs. Jennings really needs an interaction with her children. This sociological need plays a critical role in maintaining health of a person. A person remains happy if he has an interaction with all of his family members, but in case of Mrs. Jennings, two of her children are not with her and she misses them a lot. 2. Taking Care of her Husband and Grandchildren Another sociological need is that Mrs. Jennings wants to take care of her husband as long as she lives. But she thinks that she won’t be able to take care of her husband due to the injuries and diseases that she has. She also loves her grandchildren very much and she does not want to get away from them. 3. Getting Involved in Social Activities Mrs. Jennings also wants to get involved in the social activities but her injuries are not letting her do so. She is very much distressed because she used to actively participate in various social activities but now she thinks that her participation will get limited and she will not be able to participate in church and charity related activities. Functionalist Social Theory and its Application to the Patient Functionalism is considered to be one of the basic perspectives of sociology and is also one of the major sociological schools of thoughts. Functionalism examines and observes the society by using a functional framework which stresses on the fact that everything present in the society has some purpose. According to functionalism, there isn’t anything without some purpose to fulfill. Functionalism stresses that, in a society, there are various interrelated systems and each system makes a valuable contribution to the vitality of the whole system of the society. The theory of functionalism asserts that every person is a valuable part of the system and, no matter how strange, serves some purpose. Functionalism holds that every person in the society is dependent on some other person of the society just like the parts of the body which are interdependent on each other to function successfully. Functionalism stresses that strong social institutions are very essential if a society wants to survive. Now if we apply the functionalist social theory to explain Mrs. Jennings’s behavior in dealing with her condition, causes, links, surrounding, and consequence, we can say that functionalist social theory proves to be very helpful in this regard. Mrs. Jennings has a fear of dying due to her diseases and she is worried about her husband as he totally depends on her. Now according to functionalist social theory, her fear seems to be correct because each element of a society is dependent on other elements in order to work effectively. Mrs. Jennings understands the reason why her sons have left her after marriage. She also understands that every person has different needs and demands which force the person to take some hard decisions. Here a link has again established between the theory and Mrs. Jennings’s thoughts, and the link affirms that every act has some purpose and no action is taken by any person without presence of a specific reason behind that. The theory also applies to the patient in a sense that Mrs. Jennings’s has been playing an active role in the society but she has a fear that her activities could get reduced if she does not come out of her terrible condition. Mrs. Jennings has strong emotions for her husband and grandchildren and it proves another part of the functionalist social theory, which is, need of strong social institutions. Illness can also be seen as one of the elements of society as it also serves some purposes. If there were no diseases, there would have been no hospitals and doctors. According to functionalist social theory, all these elements work interdependently to form a complete society. Mrs. Jennings understands the fact that diseases are the part of life and these should be taken as a challenge instead of getting hopeless but her current physical condition has caused a lot of worries for her. Social Cognitive Theory and its Application to the Patient Social cognitive theory is basically used in psychology and defines learning in terms of some critical factors. These factors include behavioral factors, personal factors, and environmental factors. Environment, which influences personal behavior, is of two types; social environment and physical environment. Social environment includes friends and family members whereas physical environment includes temperature of the surroundings and the room size. Social cognitive theory holds that learning of an individual depends on a theoretical framework which is provided to the learners to develop constructivism and cooperative learning. If we apply social cognitive theory to our patient’s case, we can say that it will be very helpful as it is very relevant for promoting health education and developing health behavior programs. A key learning program includes self-efficacy which Mrs. Jennings can achieve by identifying her ability to perform. Smith (2010) asserts, “Self efficacy is a persons belief in their own success in a specific situation”. Mrs. Jennings do not under-estimate herself but wants to get rid of her terrible condition in order to actively participate in social activities and meet her grandchildren and husband. Reproduction is another learning program described in the theory which helps a patient effectively communicate with the health practitioners regarding the concerns. Learning always plays an important role in any person’s life. Mrs. Jennings do not want to get hopeless; rather she wants to combine all of her hidden energies and efforts to successfully cope with the situation and become able to enjoy the real spirit of life. References Smith, B 2010, Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy, viewed 28 May 2010, . Read More