Examining Rules in Friends with Benefits Relationships.

Establishing communicative and behavioral boundaries in romantic relationships provides partners with a greater sense of relational stability and certainty. For romantic relationships, these boundaries, such as sexual exclusivity, are relatively straightforward. For casual sex relationships, however, the relational rules are less stable and certain.

Exploring the Connection Between End-of-Life Relational Communication and Personal Growth After the Death of a Loved One.

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine associations between final conversations (FCs; i.e., relational communication with a terminally ill individual from the moment of terminal diagnosis to death) with the outcome of personal growth (PG).

Final Conversations: Overview and Practical Implications for Patients, Families, and Healthcare Workers.

The current paper presents a summary of a 12-year body of research on final conversations, which will be useful for healthcare providers who work with patients and family nearing the end-of-life, as well as for patients and their family members. Final conversations encompass any and all conversations that occur between individuals with a terminal diagnosis and their family members (all participants are aware that their loved one is in the midst of the death journey). Final conversations take the family member's perspective and highlights what are their memorable messages with the terminally ill loved one.

Wished for and avoided conversations with terminally ill individuals during final conversations.

The current investigation examines retrospectively wished for and avoided conversations during the end of life with a deceased relational partner. Participants reported on conversations they wished they had engaged in and conversations that they intentionally avoided, as well as reasons why they did not engage in the conversations. Analyses revealed the following wished for and avoided conversations: negative relationship characteristics; death and dying; postdeath arrangements; and personal information.

Cumulative Risk on the Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) Predicts Empathic Communication by Physician Assistant Students.

In the relationship between patients and health care providers, few communicative features are as significant as the providers' ability to express empathy. A robust empirical literature describes the importance of physician communication skills-particularly those that convey empathy-yet few studies have examined empathic communication by physician assistants, who provide primary care for an increasing number of Americans. The present study examines the empathic communication of physician assistant students in interactions with standardized patients.

Empathy Between Physician Assistant Students and Standardized Patients: Evidence of an Inflation Bias.

Purpose: Empathic communication with patients is an essential component of quality primary care. This study examines the ability of physician assistant (PA) students to communicate empathically in clinical interviews with standardized patients.

Methods: In their first year of training, PA students conducted 3 clinical interviews with standardized patients over a 6-month period in 2014, during the second half of their didactic year.

Creating the final conversations scale: a measure of end-of-life relational communication with terminally ill individuals.

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.

Advice from children and adolescents on final conversations with dying loved ones.

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.