Background and Objectives Thriving has been described as a multidimensional concept that can be used to explore place-related well-being; however, there has been limited research into the meaning of thriving in aged care. This study aimed to illuminate meanings of thriving as narrated by persons living in nursing homes. Research Design and Methods Narrative interviews were conducted with 21 persons residing in a rural Australian nursing home. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and interpreted using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Results Meanings of thriving could be understood as: Striving toward acceptance of being in a nursing home while maintaining a positive outlook; Feeling supported and cared for while maintaining a sense of independence; Balancing opportunities for solitude and company while living with others; and, Feeling a sense of home while residing in an institutional environment. The meanings of thriving, as presented through the interpretive lens of Gaston Bachelard’s “Poetics of Space,” encompassed having access to literal, metaphorical, and symbolic doors, as well as having the freedom to open, close, and use these doors however the person wishes. Discussion Exploring meanings of thriving in nursing homes could contribute towards understanding and implementing positive life-world constructs in research and practice. These findings could be used to inform and enhance person-centered care practices by maximizing opportunities for persons residing in nursing homes to have options and choices, and the agency to make decisions where possible, in relation to their everyday care and living environment.

To support the development of internationally comparable common data elements (CDEs) that can be used to measure essential aspects of long-term care (LTC) across low-, middle-, and high-income countries, a group of researchers in medicine, nursing, behavioral, and social sciences from 21 different countries have joined forces and launched the Worldwide Elements to Harmonize Research in LTC Living Environments (WE-THRIVE) initiative. This initiative aims to develop a common data infrastructure for international use across the domains of organizational context, workforce and staffing, person-centered care, and care outcomes, as these are critical to LTC quality, experiences, and outcomes. This article reports measurement recommendations for the care outcomes domain, focusing on previously prioritized care outcomes concepts of well-being, quality of life (QoL), and personhood for residents in LTC. Through literature review and expert ranking, we recommend nine measures of well-being, QoL, and personhood, as a basis for developing CDEs for long-term care outcomes across countries. Data in LTC have often included deficit-oriented measures; while important, reductions do not necessarily mean that residents are concurrently experiencing well-being. Enhancing measurement efforts with the inclusion of these positive LTC outcomes across countries would facilitate international LTC research and align with global shifts toward healthy aging and person-centered LTC models.

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Aim To explore contributors for thriving in nursing homes by evaluating, analysing and synthesizing peer‐reviewed qualitative literature on the topic. Background Thriving is a positive life‐world concept that has been explored by several qualitative studies; however, descriptions of thriving and contributors to thriving have not been compared or contrasted among different studies and contexts, nor have they been reviewed and synthesized. Design Qualitative meta‐ethnography. Data sources Four electronic databases were searched in October 2019, with sources published between 2000 and 2019 included. Review methods Sources of peer‐reviewed literature that employed qualitative methods to explore thriving in nursing homes were evaluated. In total, 1,017 sources were screened at title‐level, 95 advanced to abstract‐level review and 11 were assessed at full‐text level. Each source was evaluated by two researchers independently in relation to methodological quality and relevance to the study aim. Themes pertaining to thriving in nursing homes were extracted, interpreted and synthesized. Results In total, seven sources of peer‐reviewed literature were included. Two main themes illustrating the contributors to thriving were identified: ingredients for thriving (subthemes: personal contributors and social contributors) and environment for thriving (subthemes: spacial contributors and societal contributors). Conclusion Contributors to thriving in nursing homes include personal attributes, relationships with others, the lived environment and societal structures. Thriving for older people could thereby be defined as a holistic concept denoting lived experiences of situated contentment. Future studies should explore different temporal facets of thriving in the nursing home setting. Impact This meta‐synthesis proposes a ‘recipe’ for thriving as comprising the right ingredients and the right environment, determined by the preferred ‘taste’ of the individual person. The proposed definition and contributors illuminate thriving as a positive life‐world concept that is based on one's lived experiences and context.

There has been an impressive development of nursing knowledge around the ethics, principles, frameworks, models and practices of person-centred care over the last 15 years, with colleagues from the Nordic countries making significant contributions to global knowledge across the discipline of nursing and beyond. A disciplinary challenge remains to map the variability in person-centred care with an aim to empirically clarify the invariant in person-centred care. Based on current research and practice, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, this article argues that the relational aspect of person-centred care is such an invariant, building on the socially constructive notion of ‘personhood’ being a standing or status that is bestowed on one human being by another in the context of relationship and social being. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, several of the key determinants of person-centred care are under threat due to health service responses and/or infection control measures, such as keeping older adults safe, imposing relationship restrictions, social distancing and isolation (or the lack thereof). Clinical examples from an Australian health service are used to show how recognizing the relational invariant of person-centred aged care facilitated supporting lives lived whilst also protecting lives saved. The relational invariant to person-centred care is who we are, constructed or deconstructed by and with others; something that may have become more visible through the relational restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. Protecting relationality in life and care and advocating for both safe and person-centred care for those who need it most is now more important than ever.