Engelsk titel: Living as dying - A study of older patients with terminal illnesses
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Författare:
Ellefsen, Bodil
Email: bodil.ellefsen@medisin.uio.no
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 33
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 12073265
Sammanfattning
The number of older people living longer is increasing and many will come to a terminal care situation. This is a descriptive study of ten older patients with terminal illnesses: seven in a hospice and three in a terminal care ward in a nursing home. The aim of the study was to describe how older people with terminal diseases experience and handle their situation. Ten available and willing patients between 62 and 84 years were interviewed. Qualitative interviews and content analyses provided the basis for the findings. The findings present four themes: the history of illness, enduring life, holding on to the positive, and securing the future. The history of illness tells about hope and despair as the illness trajectory develops. Enduring life with terminal illness in an institutional setting was a story of ambivalence, facing death, fluctuating days, the inherent greatness of small things, and feeling abandoned. By holding on to the positive, patients handled life with terminal illness, by having a positive outlook, being indulgent, diverting attention, and living life as usual. Securing the future involved short-term planning and putting affairs in order. This knowledge might assist health personnel to develop caring strategies that are most appropriate to patients’ needs.