0000000000243260
AUTHOR
Trygve Aasgaard
Fostering dignity in the care of nursing home residents through slow caring
Background: Physical impairment and dependency on others may be a threat to dignity. Research questions: The purpose of this study was to explore dignity as a core concept in caring, and how healthcare personnel focus on and foster dignity in nursing home residents. Research design: This study has a hermeneutic design. Participants and research context: In all, 40 healthcare personnel from six nursing homes in Scandinavia participated in focus group interviews in this study. Ethical considerations: This study has been evaluated and approved by the Regional Ethical Committees and the Social Science Data Services in the respective Scandinavian countries. Findings: Two main themes emerged: dig…
Dignity, Dependence, and Relational Autonomy for Older People Living in Nursing Homes
Dignity is a core concept in nursing care. In earlier theories on dignity, close links have been drawn between dignity and autonomy, and autonomy has been closely related to independence. These traditional understandings of dignity and autonomy may be challenged when an individual moves into a nursing home. Our findings show that negative views about dependence, institutional frames and structures in the nursing home, and the attitudes and actions of healthcare personnel may diminish independence and lead to a lack of autonomy. Each of these areas can be experienced as a serious threat to the residents' dignity. Findings are interpreted and discussed in the light of a theory of relational a…
Maintaining dignity in vulnerability: A qualitative study of the residents' perspective on dignity in nursing homes
Postprint tilgjengelig 20.03.17. Background Older people, living in nursing homes, are exposed to diverse situations, which may be associated with loss of dignity. To help them maintain their dignity, it is important to explore, how dignity is preserved in such context. Views of dignity and factors influencing dignity have been studied from both the residents’ and the care providers’ perspective. However, most of these studies pertain to experiences in the dying or the illness context. Knowledge is scarce about how older people experience their dignity within their everyday lives in nursing homes. Aim To illuminate the meaning of maintaining dignity from the perspective of older people livi…
Dignity and existential concerns among nursing homes residents from the perspective of their relatives
Aims and objectives: The aim of this cross-country Scandinavian study was to explore how residents in nursing homes experience that their dignity is promoted and attended to. This is one part of the Scandinavian project in which we interviewed residents, relatives and staff members. Background: The main subject concerns the dignity of residents of nursing homes for older people. This article brings forward results from interviews of relatives on how they experience that the dignity is met, promoted and attended to for their next of kin. Design: The study was qualitative with a hermeneutic approach. Methods: Qualitative research interviews of 28 relatives of residents at six participating nu…
The Dialectical Movement Between Deprivation and Preservation of a Person's Life Space: A Question of Nursing Home Residents' Dignity.
The aim of this study was to answer the question "What do nursing home residents do themselves in order to maintain their dignity?" Twenty-eight residents, 8 men and 20 women, aged 62 to 103 years, from 6 different nursing homes in Scandinavia were interviewed. The results showed that the residents tried to expand their life space, both physical and ontological, in order to experience health and dignity.
Family Caregivers' Experiences in Nursing Homes: Narratives on Human Dignity and Uneasiness
This qualitative study focused on dignity in nursing homes from the perspective of family caregivers. Dignity is a complex concept and central to nursing. Dignity in nursing homes is a challenge, according to research. Family caregivers are frequently involved in their family members’ daily experiences at the nursing home. Twenty-eight family caregivers were included in this Scandinavian cross-country, descriptive, and explorative study. A phenomenological-hermeneutic approach was used to understand the meaning of the narrated text. The interpretations revealed two main themes: “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself” and “Uneasiness due to indignity.” Dignity wa…
Perspectives of health personnel on how to preserve and promote the patients' dignity in a rehabilitation context.
Aims and objectives To explore how healthcare personnel comprehend the term dignity and what they do to attend to, preserve and promote the dignity of patients in the rehabilitation context. Background Literature reveals that knowledge exists concerning the nature of dignity. Literature is scant on how health personnel think the reasons may be when patients do not maintain their dignity or how caregivers might improve and strengthen their concern in preserving and promoting the patients' dignity in a rehabilitation context. Design The study was explorative and descriptive, with content analysis of gathered empirical data. Methods Qualitative focus group interviews with representatives from …
The significance of meaningful and enjoyable activities for nursing home resident’s experiences of dignity.
Background Living in a nursing home may be challenging to the residents’ experience of dignity. Residents’ perception of how their dignity is respected in everyday care is important. Aim To examine how nursing home residents experience dignity through the provision of activities that foster meaning and joy in their daily life. Method A qualitative design was used and 28 individual semistructured interviews conducted with nursing home residents from six nursing homes in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Independent ethical committees in all participating countries granted their approval for the study. Findings The participants highlight two…
The meaning of dignity in nursing home care as seen by relatives
Background: As part of an ongoing Scandinavian project on the dignity of care for older people, this study is based on ‘clinical caring science’ as a scientific discipline. Clinical caring science examines how ground concepts, axioms and theories are expressed in different clinical contexts. Central notions are caring culture, dignity, at-home-ness, the little extra, non-caring cultures versus caring cultures and ethical context – and climate. Aim and assumptions: This study investigates the individual variations of caring cultures in relation to dignity and how it is expressed in caring acts and ethical contexts. Three assumptions are formulated: (1) the caring culture of nursing homes inf…
Dignity in nursing homes - Eksistential needs and concerns of the residents from the perspective of their relatives
- Aims and objectives: The aim of this cross-country Scandinavian study was to explore how residents in nursing homes experience that their dignity is promoted and attended to. This is one part of the Scandinavian project in which we interviewed residents, relatives and staff members. Background: The main subject concerns the dignity of residents of nursing homes for older people. This article brings forward results from interviews of relatives on how they experience that the dignity is met, promoted and attended to for their next of kin. Design: The study was qualitative with a hermeneutic approach. Methods: Qualitative research interviews of 28 relatives of residents at six participating …