Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34603128›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2021

Older Adults' Experience of Meaning at the End of Life in Two Danish Hospices: A Qualitative Interview Study.

Dorte Toudal Viftrup, Christina Prinds, Ricko Damberg Nissen, Vibeke Østergaard Steenfeldt, Jens Søndergaard, Niels Christian Hvidt

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Dorte Toudal ViftrupResearch Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Christina PrindsResearch Unit of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Ricko Damberg NissenResearch Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Vibeke Østergaard SteenfeldtCentre for Nursing, University College Absalon, Roskilde, Denmark.
Jens SøndergaardResearch Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Niels Christian HvidtResearch Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
University of Southern Denmark · DKUniversity College Absalon · DKUniversity College South Denmark · DK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore how older adults (aged > 65) confronted with imminent death express their thoughts and feelings about death and dying and verbalize meaning. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate how health professionals could better address the needs of this patient group to experience meaning at the end of life. The study applied a qualitative method, involving semi-structured interviews with 10 participants at two hospices. The method of analysis was interpretative phenomenological analysis. We found three chronological time-based themes: (1) Approaching Death, (2) The time before dying, and (3) The afterlife. The participants displayed scarce existential vernacular for pursuing meaning with approaching death. They primarily applied understanding and vocabulary from a medical paradigm. The participants' descriptions of how they experienced and pursued meaning in the time before dying were also predominantly characterized by medical vernacular, but these descriptions did include a few existential words and understandings. When expressing thoughts and meaning about the afterlife, participants initiated a two-way dialogue with the interviewer and primarily used existential vernacular. This indicates that the participants' scarce existential vernacular to talk about meaning might be because people are not used to talking with healthcare professionals about meaning or their thoughts and feelings about death. They are mostly "trained" in medical vernacular. We found that participants' use of, respectively, medical or existential vernacular affected how they experienced meaning and hope at the end of life. We encourage healthcare professionals to enter into existential dialogues with people to support and strengthen their experiences of meaning and hope at the end of life.

Indexed as

absolute hopeconcrete hopeend of lifehospiceinterpretative phenomenological analysismeaningqualitative method

Identifiers

PMID34603128
PMCPMC8484531
OpenAlexW3200718079

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.