Parse's research method was used to investigate the meaning of serenity for survivors of a life-threatening illness or traumatic event. Ten survivors of cancer told their stories of the meaning of serenity as they had lived it in their lives. Descriptions were aided by photographs chosen by each participant to represent the meaning of serenity for them. The structure of serenity was generated through the extraction-synthesis process. Four main concepts--steering-yielding with the flow, savoring remembered visions of engaging surroundings, abiding with aloneness-togetherness, and attesting to a loving presence--emerged and led to a theoretical structure of serenity from the human becoming perspective. Findings confirm serenity as a multidimensional process.

v Spiritual issues surface as people face death.Spiritual care is the core of care for the dying. Nurses are mandated to provide spiritual care, yet little is known about the impact of spirituality on the ability to cope at the end of life. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine relationships between spirituality and coping at end of life. Adults (n = 60) enrolled in hospice between ages 30 and 90 completed the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Spiritual Well-being Scale, the Serenity Scale, and the Cognitive Coping Scale as measures of coping. Overall physical health, the importance of religion or God, level of comfort, and level of peacefulness were measured on analogue scales of 1 to 10. Significant correlations (P G .01) were found between spirituality and importance of religion (r = .573), serenity (r = .556), peacefulness (r = .540), comfort (r = .399), and cognitive coping (r = .333). Significant correlations with the meaning/ peace subscale were peacefulness (r = .534), serenity (r = .462), and comfort (r = .359). The faith/religion subscale correlations were importance of religion (r = .682), peacefulness (r = .423), cognitive coping (r = .410), serenity (r = .408), and comfort (r = .353). Linear regression indicated that spirituality is a predictor of peacefulness (r 2 = .279) at end of life. Seventy-three percent of patients reported that illness had strengthened their spiritual lives and increased religious practices, yet most reported low levels of comfort and peace. Implications for practice are that interventions must focus on broader spiritual issues by finding ways to achieve peacefulness and comfort and assist in finding meaning as death approaches.coping end of life peacefulness religion serenity spirituality v BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE B eing spiritual is part of being human because it forms the root of one`s identity and gives life meaning. 1 Spirituality means different things to different people. For the purposes of this investigation, spirituality is defined as a unique experience that is a person`s sense of peace and purpose or expression of a greater meaning and context. Spirituality is part of one`s caring for self,

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Laughter, the physical response to perceived humor, has demonstrated positive effects on physical and psychological well-being. Studies that focus on effects of humor on health and well-being of older adults are scarce. No studies were found that examine what older adults find humorous. The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the humor stimulus in a population of older adults. One hundred thirty (130) hospital auxiliary personnel aged 50 and older were asked the question What makes you laugh? Content analysis of responses revealed nine themes in two major categories, which were (a) people or animals and (b) situations or events. Children represented the largest category of people (30%), and telling jokes represented the largest category of situations or events (51%). Humor can be used by nurses as an effective therapeutic tool when caring for older adults if appropriate sources of humor are identified and applied.