Dealing With Temporality in Patients With Life-Limiting Disease : An International Qualitative Study
(2025) In Qualitative Health Research 35(3). p.335-348- Abstract
The prospect of death influences people’s thoughts about and how they deal with their remaining time. We aimed to understand whether patients with progressive, life-limiting diseases are oriented in the past, present, or future and how they deal with temporality. We conducted 57 in-depth interviews with end-of-life patients in 10 countries using thematic analysis at three levels (i.e., locally in three countries, with codes shared in the three-country subgroup, and in all 10 countries with a codebook that we developed). We found that the patients’ thoughts were oriented toward all three time levels (i.e., past, present, and future). Complementing these levels, we identified another, namely, the future after death. Each time level... (More)
The prospect of death influences people’s thoughts about and how they deal with their remaining time. We aimed to understand whether patients with progressive, life-limiting diseases are oriented in the past, present, or future and how they deal with temporality. We conducted 57 in-depth interviews with end-of-life patients in 10 countries using thematic analysis at three levels (i.e., locally in three countries, with codes shared in the three-country subgroup, and in all 10 countries with a codebook that we developed). We found that the patients’ thoughts were oriented toward all three time levels (i.e., past, present, and future). Complementing these levels, we identified another, namely, the future after death. Each time level included patients actively and passively dealing with their thoughts. Past themes were remorse and regret, nostalgia, and coming to terms with past choices; present themes were feeling grateful for being alive, a time for farewells, and living for the day; future themes were worries about the future, to miss out, hope, ideas about death and dying, and planning the near future; and future after death themes were not being there, worries about loved ones, and preparations for a future after death. A changed view on lifetime and avoidance of thinking about a certain time level related to several time levels, while desire to die fluctuated between levels and between acting on and feeling about it. Living for the day, worries about the future, and worries about the well-being of loved ones were common themes in all countries.
(Less)
- author
- author collaboration
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- coping, end of life, qualitative, temporality, time
- in
- Qualitative Health Research
- volume
- 35
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 335 - 348
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85202493231
- pmid:39186945
- ISSN
- 1049-7323
- DOI
- 10.1177/10497323241263751
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8bb59bc9-0d41-472d-92be-33a8b8b35ffa
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-01 08:54:24
- date last changed
- 2025-06-28 07:02:37
@article{8bb59bc9-0d41-472d-92be-33a8b8b35ffa,
abstract = {{<p>The prospect of death influences people’s thoughts about and how they deal with their remaining time. We aimed to understand whether patients with progressive, life-limiting diseases are oriented in the past, present, or future and how they deal with temporality. We conducted 57 in-depth interviews with end-of-life patients in 10 countries using thematic analysis at three levels (i.e., locally in three countries, with codes shared in the three-country subgroup, and in all 10 countries with a codebook that we developed). We found that the patients’ thoughts were oriented toward all three time levels (i.e., past, present, and future). Complementing these levels, we identified another, namely, the future after death. Each time level included patients actively and passively dealing with their thoughts. Past themes were remorse and regret, nostalgia, and coming to terms with past choices; present themes were feeling grateful for being alive, a time for farewells, and living for the day; future themes were worries about the future, to miss out, hope, ideas about death and dying, and planning the near future; and future after death themes were not being there, worries about loved ones, and preparations for a future after death. A changed view on lifetime and avoidance of thinking about a certain time level related to several time levels, while desire to die fluctuated between levels and between acting on and feeling about it. Living for the day, worries about the future, and worries about the well-being of loved ones were common themes in all countries.</p>}},
author = {{Joshi, Melanie and Ásgeirsdóttir, Guðlaug Helga and Bakan, Miša and Kodba Čeh, Hana and Haugen, Dagny Renata Faksvåg and Lunder, Urška and Víbora Martín, Eva and Morris, Beth and Rasmussen, Birgit H. and Romarheim, Elisabeth and Tripodoro, Vilma and van der Heide, Agnes and Veloso, Verónica and Yildiz, Berivan and Zambrano, Sofía and Strupp, Julia and Voltz, Raymond}},
issn = {{1049-7323}},
keywords = {{coping; end of life; qualitative; temporality; time}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{335--348}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Qualitative Health Research}},
title = {{Dealing With Temporality in Patients With Life-Limiting Disease : An International Qualitative Study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10497323241263751}},
doi = {{10.1177/10497323241263751}},
volume = {{35}},
year = {{2025}},
}