ArticleScandinavian journal of primary health care2026
In search of existential health in Swedish primary care: perspectives from older adults who took part in an existential group treatment.
Article in Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough interest in existential perspectives on health is growing, little is known about how such perspectives are experienced by older adults in primary care. The aim of this study was to understand how older adults who took part in a primary care-based existential group treatment describe the role of existential challenges in relation to their health and in primary care.
methodsSeventeen patients (75+) with psychological distress who had completed a 7-week existential group treatment took part in individual interviews. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.
resultsThree main themes were derived from the participants' experiences: (1) Existential challenges are embedded in health in later life; (2) Existential challenges are not usually addressed in primary care consultations; and (3) Engagement with existential challenges is possible within primary care. Older adults with psychological distress describe existential challenges in terms of age-related losses which raise questions of health-related agency. However, barriers to addressing existential challenges in this care setting persist in the form of time constraints, perceived ageism and a one-sided focus on physical health. Relational and trustful healthcare encounters helped to overcome these barriers, as did the existential group treatment.
conclusionWhile existential challenges are embedded in older adults' health, addressing these issues is not yet an integrated part of primary care services. In search of existential health in Swedish primary care, relational and trustful healthcare encounters as well as structured existential interventions, were found to facilitate the integration of existential perspectives in older adults' primary care experience.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.