Keesha Holden-White Marie Laramee Wilmington University Spring 2010

BACKGROUND  Born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, NY  One of seven siblings  Married to first cousin  Died June 8, 1970 Education City College of New York  Studied Law University of Wisconsin  Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology  Master of Arts Degree in Psychology – 1931  PhD Psychology RESEARCH  First to study the Psychology of Health  Human Sexuality  Humanistic Psychology “What a man can be, he must be.” (newworldencyclopedia.org, 2008)

~ Influenced by Kurt Goldstein who introduced him to the idea of self-actualization - ~His own close encounter with death had an impact on his outlook on life and self-actualization ~ Maslow’s humanistic psychology focused on the development of healthy people Description of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs  Maslow’s theory is based on the idea that some needs, physical as well as psychological, take precedence over others.  The needs are placed in a pyramid with the most important making the base  If the basic needs are not met, the base of the pyramid is not formed and the rest of the needs are not achieved.  The first levels of needs are the deficiency needs, those that if not met cause a deficiency, or lack that motivates a person to strive to achieve the need.  The fifth level, the actualization level, is a growth level.  Few people ever reach the growth level and spend their lives going up and down the pyramid meeting the lower level needs. (Learning-Theories.com, 2008) 1941

Problem-Solving, Art, Beauty, Freedom Personal Fulfillment, Creativity Self-Transcendent Self-Actualization Needs Esteem Needs Self-Esteem Confidence, Justice, Respect, Recognition Safety Needs Security of the body, Health and Property Physiological Needs Food, Water, Sleep Social Needs Friendship, Family Belonging, Identity As an individual becomes more self-actualized, one becomes wiser and automatically knows what to do in a wide variety of situations

 Lights! Camera! Action! YouTube Video on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Maslow’s Theory A hierarchy of important processes that are critical for development and growth of the total person (McEwen & Wills, 2007).

According to McEwen (2007), Maslow’s theory has been utilized in research on humanistic psychology: 1999 Daly, Jackson,and Davidson described how humanistic psychology added the concept of hope to nursing Acton and Malathum examined promotion of self-care behaviors in adults 2003 Hendry and Douglas examined enhancing quality of life for clients diagnosed with dementia 2003 Benson and Dundis researched how to motivate employees Current research has been conducted based on different operationalizations of Maslow’s concepts. Maslow was the first to study “healthy self-actualizers” rather than to focus on abnormal “psychology” Maslow organized the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is easily applied to nursing practice.  The theory focuses on human potential, “gives hope a chance”.  The theory allows the nurse to highlight the person’s strengths instead of focusing on one’s deficits (McEwen & Wills, 2007).  Basic needs such as air, food, drink and warmth, are the basic needs of human survival and health.  Safety, be it with ambulation or in taking medication, is very important to nursing.  Social needs are met with visiting hours and through the nurse- patient (care-giver) relationship  Esteem and self-actualization may or may not be met in the hospital setting.  The theory provides the blueprint for prioritizing client care according to a hierarchy of needs (McEwen & Wills, 2007).

Personal Nursing Practice Marie~ “I don’t use Maslow as much in my nursing practice. The basic needs of my patients are not met in the office setting. The safety needs are addressed in relation to health. The esteem and higher levels are not touched upon in the office setting. “ Keesha~ “I utilize Maslow’s Hierarchy while caring for patients in the hospital setting. It’s imperative in this line of work to address our patient’s individual needs (all of which are listed n Maslow’s hierarchy). As nurses, our nursing care encompasses finding the inherent goodness in people. By assisting patients in meeting their needs, there’s a sense of achievement and satisfaction had by all. As we satisfy our physiological needs including food, shelter, water we can better address our safety and emotional needs. When we meet our esteem needs we are better communicators, listeners, educators, therefore satisfy our social needs. Self-actualization needs appear to be more complex for some patients and nurses, but with time are attainable.”

There are many criticisms to Maslow’s theory  There is no explanation for those that put themselves in danger to help another.  There are some cultures that put social needs above other basic needs.  There is no explanation for the “starving artist”, the person who will give up food and drink in deference to their art. (NetNBA, )  There’s minimal evidence to suggest that Maslow’s needs are in a hierarchical order  Wahba & Bridwell (1976) claim that Maslow’s definition of self-actualization is difficult to test scientifically and found little evidence for the ranking of Maslow’s needs or any existence of a definite hierarchy  Maslow’s theory has been challenged by other theorists who hypothesize that there are only three levels of human needs

“I had a vision of a peace table, with people sitting around it, talking about human nature and hatred, war and peace, and brotherhood. I was too old to go into the army (1941). It was at that moment I realized that the rest of my life must be devoted to discovering a psychology for the peace table. That moment changed my whole life. Since then, I've devoted myself to developing a theory of human nature that could be tested by experiment and research. I wanted to prove that humans are capable of something grander than war, prejudice, and hatred. I wanted to make science consider all the people: the best specimen of mankind I could find. I found that many of them reported having something like mystical experiences.” - Abraham Maslow ( 1968

References Abraham Maslow. (2008, April 3). New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from Abraham Maslow Father of modern management. (2009). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved April 11, 2010, from Abraham Maslow Father of modern management: Boeree, D. C. (2006). Abraham Maslow. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from Personality Theories: Businessballs.com. ( ). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved April 11, 2010, from businessballs.com: Learning-Theories.com. (2008). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from Learning-Theories.com: McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2007). Theoretical basis for nursing (2 nd ed.). Pennsylvania:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. NetNBA. ( ). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from NetNBA Business knowledge center: Wahba, M. A. & Bridwell, L. G. (1976) Maslow reconsidered; A review of research on the need hierarchy theory. Organization Behavior and Human Performance, 15,