The insights gained from the study can guide nurses in their encounters with residents in nursing homes so that they feel respected as unique human beings and part of a community.

Suffering and well-being are significant aspects of human existence; in particular, suffering and well-being are important aspects of patients’ experiences following diseases. Increased knowledge about existential dimensions of illness and healthcare experiences may be needed in order to improve care and reduce unnecessary suffering. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to illuminate the phenomenon of suffering experienced in relation to healthcare needs among patients in hospital settings in Sweden. In this study, we used a reflective lifeworld approach. The data were analysed with a focus on meanings. The results describe the essential meaning of the phenomenon of suffering in relation to healthcare needs. The patients were suffering during care-giving when they felt distrusted or mistreated and when their perspective on illness and health was overlooked. Suffering was found to arise due to healthcare actions that neglected a holistic and patient-centred approach to care. Unfortunately, healthcare experiences that cause patients to suffer seem to be something one needs to endure without being critical. The phenomenon can be described as having four constituents: to be mistreated; to struggle for one's healthcare needs and autonomy; to feel powerless; and to feel fragmented and objectified. The study concludes that there are problems associated with patients experiencing suffering at the hands of healthcare providers, even if this suffering may not have been caused deliberately to the patient. Consequently, conscious improvements are needed to lessen the suffering caused by care-giving, as are strategies that promote more patient-centred care and patient participation.

BackgroundGrowing old involves many changes in life and implies an increased risks of illness and different forms of disabilities. Life may change in a radical way when a person gets a disease like dementia or moves to a nursing home due to disabilities or needs. In both cases, it often leads to an increased dependency on care where the patient becomes exposed and vulnerable and thereby at a higher risk for experiencing different forms of suffering.AimThe aim of this study was to elucidate and gain a deeper understanding of elderly patients’ experiences of suffering in relation to community care in nursing homes and home care services.Materials and methodsA lifeworld hermeneutical approach was used. Phenomenological interviews and conversations with an open approach were conducted and analysed with a focus on meanings.FindingsThe findings were presented in four main themes; an absence of the other in care, an absence of dialogues, a sense of alienation and a sense of insecurity. The findings in this study revealed that persons who were cared for in nursing homes and home care services sometimes were exposed to an unnecessary suffering. The suffering sometimes was caused by various caring actions, that is, unnecessary suffering. The suffering caused by care that aroused was due to caregiver’s inability to be present, to show their face, and truly meet the patient.ConclusionSuffering from care increased the elderly patients’ feelings of insecurity, loneliness, and alienation; this seemed to be the foundation for patients’ experiences of being outside a human community. There was a lack of knowledge and understanding about the patient’s lifeworld.

The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret the meaning of relatives' experiences of encounters with nurses when visiting residents in nursing homes. Thirteen relatives of residents in three nursing homes in Sweden were interviewed. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The method used was hermeneutical text analysis. Four themes emerged in the analysis and interpretation of the whole text: 'being paid attention to', 'being ignored', 'being involved' and 'being safe and secure'. A further interpretation of the findings shows a deeper understanding of the meaning of relatives. This meaning was revealed as being invited into an encounter with nurses and gave a sense of community but the opposite was being ignored and left outside. This study gives a deeper understanding of the meaning of encounters between relatives and nurses in nursing homes; it also illuminates how these encounters also can affect the care of the residents. This new understanding can hopefully offer support for nurses during their encounters with relatives and optimise the ability to provide a positive outcome for residents in nursing homes.