HUMAN AND BASİC HUMAN
NEEDS
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hülya FIRAT KILIÇ
Humans are complex beings and their behaviour and
their health is the result of interaction within and
between their internal biological, psychological and
social systems and their physical and social
environment.
Abraham Maslow
(1908‐1970)
Famous Psychologist
Most known for his theory of
basic human needs.
He theorized that a specific
series of needs must be met
for a person to be HEALTHY
Maslow’s theory is very important for nursing care.
Nursing has been defined as a helping relationship. As a
nurse, you will help people to satisfy their basic needs and to
reduce threats to this need fulfillment.Most types of nursing
care are prioritized using the same hierarchy. This topic
summarizes human needs and explains their relationship to
health and nursing care.
Maslow’s Assumptions...
Psychopathology results from the frustration
of a human being’s essential nature
This theory departs from the principle that human
beings have common needs that motivate their
behavior to satisfy them, according to hierarchical
levels.
Maslow defined a Hierarchy of Human Needs that
stated the lower needs must be met before an
individual can strive to meet the higher needs.
Maslow defined the basic needs of all people as a
progression from simple physical needs (needed for
survival) to more complex ones, called aesthetic needs.
He called this progression a hierarchy of needs. On this
hierarchy or ladder, needs are ranked by their
importance to the individual’s survival.
A hierarchy means that in any list of items some items
are classed as more importent than others.
Abraham Maslow identified 5 basic human needs…needs that every human
being must have met in order to survive. A “heirarchy” simply means that
some needs are more important than others.
In order to teach others which
needs were more important than
others, Maslow illustrated his
theory with a pyramid.
He used a pyramid instead of a
graph or a circle, because when
you construct a pyramid the
bottom layers are more
important than the top.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self‐Actualization
Self‐Esteem
Love and belonging needs
Safety needs
Physiological needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
MOST NEEDS HAVE TO DO WITH
SURVIVAL PHYSICALLY AND
PSYCHOLOGICALLY
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
Need to satisfy, hunger, thirst,sleep,
Need to have medical care, etc...)
Physiological Needs
This is the foundation of the pyramid – Maslow’s theory
proposes that humans must have their most basic physical
needs met in order to move on to other needs.
Directly related with the existence and survival of human
beings.
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS: necessary for
life; unmet these needs lead to death
• Food
• Water
• Oxygen
• Sleep
• Protection from extreme temperatures
• Elimination
• Sensory needs
• Motor needs
Physiological Needs
If a person is hungry, sick, sleep
etc.. They are not able to begin
to meet the next level of needs
and become stuck here – just
trying to survive
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
ON THE WHOLE AN INDIVIDUAL
CANNOT SATISFY ANY LEVEL
UNLESS NEEDS BELOW ARE
SATISFIED
SAFETY NEEDS
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
Safety Needs
If someone’s physical needs are met, then they move
to this level.
Safety includes feeling secure – free from danger and
harm, and feeling safe with the people around you.
If a person does not ever feel safe – they live on high
alert and are not able to move onto the next level of
needs.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
LOVE AND
BELONGINGNESS NEEDS
SAFETY NEEDS
PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS
Love/Belonging
Needs
Once a person’s physical needs and needs for safety are met
then they are able to focus on this level.
The need to feel loved, to feel like you belong, are part of a
group and are important to people, to have friends and to
feel loved and give love
If a person is able to feel that they are loved and that they
belong, then they can move to the next level…
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
SELF ESTEEM NEEDS
LOVE AND
BELONGINGNESS NEEDS
SAFETY NEEDS
PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS
Self‐Esteem Needs
We all need to feel valuable and important and have
confidence in who they are.
For many people the self esteem needs won’t be fully
fulfilled, for some they will move beyond self esteem
to the next level…
Nurse can meet patients self‐esteem needs by
accepting theier values and beliefs, encoruages them
to set attainable goals and facilitating support by
family and friends.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
NEED
FOR
SELF‐
ACTUALIZATION
MASLOW EMPHASIZES NEED FOR
SELF
ACTUALIZATION IS
A HEALTHY INDIVIDUAL’S PRIME
MOTIVATION
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
NEED
FOR
SELF‐
ACTUALIZATION
MASLOW EMPHASIZES NEED FOR SELF
ACTUALIZATION IS
A HEALTHY INDIVIDUAL’S PRIME
MOTIVATION
SELF‐ACTUALIZATION MEANS ACTUALIZING
ONE’S POTENTIAL BECOMING ALL ONE IS
CAPABLE OF BECOMING
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
NEED
SELF-
ACTUALIZATION
SELF ESTEEM NEEDS
LOVE AND
BELONGINGNESS NEEDS
SAFETY NEEDS
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
Self Actualization Needs
A person who is able to fill the need of self fulfillment
will be able to live to their full potential, to live as
though they have a purpose in life and to be truly
themselves.
The nurse must focus on the strenght and capabilities
rather than on problem to met patients self
actualization needs. She must aim at caring the total
individual needs. She must aim at caring the total
individual need and must privide a sense of hope to
maximize his potentials.
Maslow’s Definition of a
Self‐actualized Person
Has no mental illness
Satisfied in basic needs
Fully exploited talents
Motivated by values
Some Characteristics of
Self‐actualizing persons
Superior perception of reality
Increased acceptance of self, of others,
and of nature
Increased spontaneity
Increased detachment and desire for
privacy
Greater freshness of appreciation and
richness of emotional reaction
Some Characteristics of
Self‐actualizing persons.....
Increased autonomy and resistance to
conformity
Higher frequency of peak experiences
Increased identification with the human species
Improved interpersonal experiences
More democratic character structure
High levels of creativity
Eight ways to self‐actualize
Experience things fully, vividly, selflessly. Throw
yourself into the experience; concentrate on it fully;
let it totally absorb you.
Life is an ongoing process of choosing between
safety (out of fear ) and risk (for the sake of growth:
make the growth choice a dozen times a day.
Let the self emerge. Try to shut out external clues
as to what you should think, feel, say and let your
experience enable you to say what you truly feel.
Eight ways to self‐actualize....
When in doubt, be honest. If you look into yourself
and are honest, you will also take responsibility;
taking responsibility is self‐actualizing.
Use your intelligence. Work to do well the things
you want to do, whether that means finger
exercises at a keyboard, memorizing every bone,
muscle and hormone in the human body, or
learning to finish wood so it looks and feels like silk.
Eight ways to self‐actualize....
Make peak experiencing more likely: get rid
of illusions and false notions; learn what you
are good at and what your potentialities are
not.
Find out who you are, what you like and
don’t like, what is good and what is bad for
you, where you are going, what your mission
is. Opening yourself up in this way means
identifying defenses ‐ and then finding the
courage to give them up.
NURSING’S RELATIONSHIP TO BASIC
NEEDS
Illness or risk for illness occurs when people are unable to
satisfy one or more of their basic needs independently. Much of
your nursing career will center on assisting people to meet
these needs. Nursing also involves helping people to avoid risks
or threats to their basic human needs. You will be helping
others to prevent complications before they begin.
Many situations will arise in which you will assist clients to meet
their needs. You may feed an infant, provide full range of motion
for a person who has had a stroke, give a tube feeding to a person
who cannot swallow, bathe a person who is in a full body cast, or
play with a child. You may encourage the recovering person to
attend to personal care, visit with someone who is lonely or
frightened, or arrange for a social worker or a member of the
clergy to visit. This text discusses issues common to all people,
noting that individual needs may be unique. Illness may modify a
person’s perception of his or her needs. As a result, the client’s
“need priority” may differ from what you would expect. Illness or
injury may present a block or obstacle to the meeting of needs.
Nursing tries to help remove those obstacles.
Meeting needs is a process; it is never static. In addition, needs are
interrelated and some needs depend on others.
Key Concept Nursing is concerned with helping clients meet their
physical, spiritual, and psychological needs. Much of nursing deals
with assisting clients to meet basic physiologic needs that they
cannot meet independently
In many cases, the nurse can determine the client’s level of need
satisfaction by looking at him or her. For example, the nurse can
estimate oxygenation by looking for cyanosis (blueness of skin) and
difficulty breathing. Listening to the client is also helpful. The client
may tell the nurse that he or she is hungry, thirsty, or in pain.
Key Concept Basic needs are common to all people;
thus, basic needs are universal. Individuals of all
cultures have basic needs; in other words, basic needs
are transcultural— across all cultures. Needs can be
satisfied or they can be blocked during times of
illness.
İmplication of human needs in
nursing practise
• Understand themselves, so that they
Knowledge can meet their personel needs outside
the health car settings.
of human • Set priorities as in giving care
needs help • Better to undarstand patient behaviour
so that thye can respond
nurses to : therapeautically rather than
emotionally
İmplication of human needs in
nursing practise
•Relieve the distress of patients
Knowledge •Help client to develap and
of human grow.
needs help •Provide a framework and be
applied the nursing process at
nurses to the individual and family level.
If you plan on being anything less
than you are capable of being, you
will probably be unhappy , all the
days of your life.. Abraham Maslow
