Communication

To understand more about final conversations (communication between loved ones from the point of terminal diagnosis until death), 49 children=adolescents provided final conversation advice for other youth and for the dying person. Advice for fellow youth included (a) confirming the relationship with the dying person, (b) remaining positive throughout the death process, and (c) using external support networks. Advice for the dying person included (a) confirming the relationship with the youth, (b) engaging in open, honest communication with youth, and (c) confirming the identities of the youth. The main implication is that youth should be included in the death process.

In the current study, the authors expanded on a program of qualitative inquiry exploring final conversations (FCs) to the understudied population of children/adolescents. Participants were 61 children/adolescents aged 5-18, who participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their FCs with a dying family member. Inductive coding analysis led the authors to discover four overarching themes of children/adolescents' FCs messages, in order of descending prominence, are: everyday communication, messages of love, messages of individual identity, and messages related to religion/spirituality. The authors applied Functional Theory to further delineate how participants used, and continue to use, the messages from each theme within their FCs. Discussion of results, including limitations and directions for further research, is outlined.

Final conversations (FCs) are defined as the communicative interactions, both verbal and nonverbal, that occur between terminally ill patients and relational partners. In this study, the ''Final Conversations Scale'' was developed and tested. A total of 152 participants that had engaged in final conversations with individuals that were terminally ill completed the newly developed instrument. Factor analysis produced a five-factor structure, including: messages of spirituality=religion; expressions of love; proactive difficult relationship talk; everyday communication; and talk about illness=death. Participants' perceptions of the relational closeness and difficulty with the deceased significantly influenced the individuals' recalled frequency of FCs messages. Practical and scholarly implications focus on the needs of the family members regarding their communication with terminally ill individuals, as well as directions for future research with the FCs Scale.

The past decade of research on friends with benefits relationships (FWBR) has highlighted the growing complexities of these types of relationships. Concurrently, college students are reporting more engagement in FWBRs than ever before.  One way to explore social interactions is by examining relational rules.  Rules for social interaction have proven helpful in explaining, predicting, interpreting, and evaluating behaviors within various interpersonal contexts.  Additionally, rules provide reasons for relationship formation, maintenance, and dissolution.  Since little is known about rules within FWBRs, the current investigation sought to identify participants’ relational rules  for FWBRs. Undergraduate college students (N = 109) completed an online survey that focused on various aspects of a current or past FWBR.  Participants responded to closed and open-ended questions that focused on relational rules within their FWBR.  Responses were inductively analyzed to identify overarching themes of FWBR relational rules.  Furthermore, relational dialectics theory (RDT) was used as a sensitizing framework from which to interpret participants’ responses. Four major types of rules emerged: sex, communication, emotions, and the overall relationship.  Results are discussed with regards to theoretical advancements for RDT and the current FWBR literature. In addition, practical implications for sexual health programming directed toward college students’ are addressed.

Keywords: friends with benefits relationships, relational dialectics, relationship talk, relational rules, sexual communication