TY - JOUR
T1 - Romantic Relationships in Young People with Long-Term Health Conditions: A Scoping Review
AU - Jordan, Abbie
AU - CARTER, BERNIE
AU - Forgeron, Paula
AU - Fournier, Karine
AU - Sanders, Kate
PY - 2020/12/12
Y1 - 2020/12/12
N2 - Objective: Forming and maintaining romantic relationships is an important developmental task in adolescence and young adulthood. This scoping review seeks to explore how young people with long-term physical health conditions understand and experience romantic relationships. Methods: Using Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, a systematic search of five databases was conducted (PsychINFO, Cinahl, MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science). Studies were eligible for inclusion in the review if they were published in peer-reviewed journals, used primary data collection methods and adopted quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods approaches to study romantic relationships in 11-25 year olds with long-term physical health conditions. Using a data extraction form, data pertaining to demographic characteristics of young people with long-term physical health conditions and relationship engagement were extracted from eligible papers.Results: Searches returned 4645 papers after duplicate removal, with a two-stage screening process resulting in 111 full text papers being reviewed. Thirty-three eligible papers were included across a range of long-term physical health conditions. Findings identified that living with a long-term physical health condition impacted young people’s perceptions and experiences of romantic relationships across the relationship lifespan, from envisaging future relationships, to forming relationships and sustaining relationships. Issues around body confidence and self-esteem were identified as challenging in terms of perceptions and experiences of romantic relationships.Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that young people wish to engage with romantic relationships, yet many report particular challenges associated with forming and sustaining relationships due to the constraints of their condition and treatment. Future research should consider non-heterosexual relationships.
AB - Objective: Forming and maintaining romantic relationships is an important developmental task in adolescence and young adulthood. This scoping review seeks to explore how young people with long-term physical health conditions understand and experience romantic relationships. Methods: Using Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, a systematic search of five databases was conducted (PsychINFO, Cinahl, MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science). Studies were eligible for inclusion in the review if they were published in peer-reviewed journals, used primary data collection methods and adopted quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods approaches to study romantic relationships in 11-25 year olds with long-term physical health conditions. Using a data extraction form, data pertaining to demographic characteristics of young people with long-term physical health conditions and relationship engagement were extracted from eligible papers.Results: Searches returned 4645 papers after duplicate removal, with a two-stage screening process resulting in 111 full text papers being reviewed. Thirty-three eligible papers were included across a range of long-term physical health conditions. Findings identified that living with a long-term physical health condition impacted young people’s perceptions and experiences of romantic relationships across the relationship lifespan, from envisaging future relationships, to forming relationships and sustaining relationships. Issues around body confidence and self-esteem were identified as challenging in terms of perceptions and experiences of romantic relationships.Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that young people wish to engage with romantic relationships, yet many report particular challenges associated with forming and sustaining relationships due to the constraints of their condition and treatment. Future research should consider non-heterosexual relationships.
KW - chronic illness
KW - developmental perspectives
KW - social skills
KW - oncology
KW - chronicand recurrent pain
KW - cystic fibrosis
KW - diabetes
KW - feeding disorders
KW - inflammatory bowel disease
KW - juvenile arthritis
KW - neurological disorders
KW - psychosocial functioning
KW - rheumatology
U2 - 10.1093/jpepsy/jsaa106
DO - 10.1093/jpepsy/jsaa106
M3 - Article (journal)
SN - 0146-8693
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Journal of Pediatric Psychology
JF - Journal of Pediatric Psychology
ER -