Conversations about Death and Dying with Older People: An Ethnographic Study in Nursing Homes
Alftberg, Åsa LU ; Ahlström, Gerd LU
; Nilsen, Per
; Behm, Lina
LU
; Sandgren, Anna
; Benzein, Eva
; Wallerstedt, Birgitta
and Rasmussen, Birgit
LU
(2018)
In Healthcare
6(63).
p.1-12
- Abstract
- Nursing homes are often places where older persons “come to die.” Despite this, death and dying are seldom articulated or talked about. The aim of this study was to explore assistant nurses’ experiences of conversations about death and dying with nursing home residents. This study is part of an implementation project through a knowledge-based educational intervention based on palliative care principles. An ethnographic study design was applied in seven nursing homes, where eight assistant nurses were interviewed and followed in their daily assignments through participant observations. The assistant nurses stated that they had the knowledge and tools to conduct such conversations, even though they lacked the time and felt that emotional... (More)
- Nursing homes are often places where older persons “come to die.” Despite this, death and dying are seldom articulated or talked about. The aim of this study was to explore assistant nurses’ experiences of conversations about death and dying with nursing home residents. This study is part of an implementation project through a knowledge-based educational intervention based on palliative care principles. An ethnographic study design was applied in seven nursing homes, where eight assistant nurses were interviewed and followed in their daily assignments through participant observations. The assistant nurses stated that they had the knowledge and tools to conduct such conversations, even though they lacked the time and felt that emotional strain could be a hinder for conversations about death and dying. The assistant nurses used the strategies of distracting, comforting, and disregarding either when they perceived that residents’ reflections on death and dying were part of their illness and disease or when there was a lack of alignment between the residents’ contemplations and the concept of dying well. They indicated that ambivalence and ambiguity toward conversations about death and dying should be taken into consideration in future implementations of knowledge-based palliative care that take place in nursing homes after this project is finalized. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/aaa94287-7bd1-409a-b3d6-94712e8a1066
- author
- Alftberg, Åsa
LU
; Ahlström, Gerd
LU
; Nilsen, Per
; Behm, Lina
LU
; Sandgren, Anna
; Benzein, Eva
; Wallerstedt, Birgitta
and Rasmussen, Birgit
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018-06-14
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- auxiliary nurse, existential communication, frailty, ethnographic approach, life-limiting disease, older, aged, palliative care, residential care, end-of-life
- in
- Healthcare
- volume
- 6
- issue
- 63
- pages
- 1 - 12
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:29899220
- scopus:85057334024
- ISSN
- 2227-9032
- DOI
- 10.3390/healthcare6020063
- project
- Implementation of Knowledge-Based Palliative Care for Frail Older Persons in Nursing Homes
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- aaa94287-7bd1-409a-b3d6-94712e8a1066
- date added to LUP
- 2018-06-20 13:51:13
- date last changed
- 2022-04-25 07:51:53
@article{aaa94287-7bd1-409a-b3d6-94712e8a1066,
abstract = {{Nursing homes are often places where older persons “come to die.” Despite this, death and dying are seldom articulated or talked about. The aim of this study was to explore assistant nurses’ experiences of conversations about death and dying with nursing home residents. This study is part of an implementation project through a knowledge-based educational intervention based on palliative care principles. An ethnographic study design was applied in seven nursing homes, where eight assistant nurses were interviewed and followed in their daily assignments through participant observations. The assistant nurses stated that they had the knowledge and tools to conduct such conversations, even though they lacked the time and felt that emotional strain could be a hinder for conversations about death and dying. The assistant nurses used the strategies of distracting, comforting, and disregarding either when they perceived that residents’ reflections on death and dying were part of their illness and disease or when there was a lack of alignment between the residents’ contemplations and the concept of dying well. They indicated that ambivalence and ambiguity toward conversations about death and dying should be taken into consideration in future implementations of knowledge-based palliative care that take place in nursing homes after this project is finalized.}},
author = {{Alftberg, Åsa and Ahlström, Gerd and Nilsen, Per and Behm, Lina and Sandgren, Anna and Benzein, Eva and Wallerstedt, Birgitta and Rasmussen, Birgit}},
issn = {{2227-9032}},
keywords = {{auxiliary nurse; existential communication; frailty; ethnographic approach; life-limiting disease; older; aged; palliative care; residential care; end-of-life}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
number = {{63}},
pages = {{1--12}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{Healthcare}},
title = {{Conversations about Death and Dying with Older People: An Ethnographic Study in Nursing Homes}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6020063}},
doi = {{10.3390/healthcare6020063}},
volume = {{6}},
year = {{2018}},
}