Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Mar 19, 2025; 15(3): 103093
Published online Mar 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i3.103093
Understanding patients’ emotional needs to strengthen therapeutic relationships: A deep insight into narrative nursing
Wen-Jue Pan, Shu-Fen Wang
Wen-Jue Pan, Shu-Fen Wang, Department of Hematology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-first authors: Wen-Jue Pan and Shu-Fen Wang.
Author contributions: Pan WJ collected literature and wrote original draft; Wang SF provided ideas, wrote the framework, reviewed and revised the original draft; Pan WJ and Wang SF contributed equally as co-first authors; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82100123.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shu-Fen Wang, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 3 Qingchun East Road, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China. shufen_wang@zju.edu.cn
Received: November 13, 2024
Revised: January 13, 2025
Accepted: January 23, 2025
Published online: March 19, 2025
Processing time: 106 Days and 1.9 Hours
Abstract

Narrative nursing has emerged as a vital approach in patient-centered care, and emphasize the importance of understanding patients’ emotional experiences in addition to their physical health needs. In this article, we comment on the article by Zhou et al. Diseases such as acute pancreatitis can cause significant suffering and severely impact patients’ quality of life. During treatment, routine nursing procedures such as gastric tube placement, oxygen therapy, monitoring, and nasogastric feeding often lack effective communication, which can adversely affect patients’ recovery. This article highlights how narrative nursing can provide deeper insights into patients’ emotional experiences, ultimately resulting in improved care outcomes. We also emphasize the role of narrative nursing in understanding and addressing these emotional needs to achieve personalized care, which can strengthen the therapeutic relationship between healthcare providers and patients. By recognizing the critical role of emotional well-being in patient care, we can develop comprehensive strategies that facilitate recovery and enhance overall quality of life.

Keywords: Narrative nursing; Emotional need; Anxiety; Depression; Patient-centered care

Core Tip: This article underscores the significance of narrative nursing in enhancing therapeutic relationships and patient recovery. Narrative nursing goes beyond traditional medical approaches by recognizing that patients' experiences and emotions are integral to their healing journey. By focusing on patients’ emotional needs and personal stories, narrative nursing fosters deeper insights, leading to improved care outcomes. It emphasizes the importance of emotional well-being in patient care, highlighting how personalized, empathetic nursing can strengthen the therapeutic alliance and promote recovery.