OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to illuminate meanings of person-centredness as narrated by nursing home managers in nursing homes rated as highly person-centred.
METHODS: A phenomenological hermeneutical approach was used.
METHODS: Twelve nursing home managers in 11 highly person-centred nursing homes in 7 municipalities in Sweden were included in this interview study. The findings were interpreted, reflected and discussed through the lens of Ricoeur.
RESULTS: Meanings of person-centredness could be understand as moving between doing and being through knowing, sensing, sharing and giving for person-centredness. These aspects contributed via knowledge, understanding, interaction and action that involved doing for and being with older persons through these caring dimensions. By moving between doing for, being with and being part of the overall nursing home narrative, knowing, sensing, sharing and giving could support the persons\' identity in different ways. This may also contribute to sense-making, preserving dignity and promoting self-esteem when aiming to provide a good life for older persons in nursing homes, within an ever-present ethical frame.
UNASSIGNED: This study illuminated meanings of person-centredness as narrated by nursing home managers. No patient of public contribution was investigated.

Within the empirical study of moral decision making, people\'s morality is often identified by measuring general moral values through a questionnaire, such as the Moral Foundations Questionnaire provided by Moral Foundations Theory (MFT). However, the success of these moral values in predicting people\'s behaviour has been disappointing. The general and context-free manner in which such approaches measure moral values and people\'s moral identity seems crucial in this respect. Yet, little research has been done into the underlying notion of self. This article aims to fill this gap. Taking a phenomenological approach and focusing on MFT, we examine the concept of moral self that MFT assumes and present an improved concept of moral self for the empirical study of morality. First, we show that MFT adopts an essentialist concept of moral self, consisting of stable moral traits. Then, we argue that such a notion is unable to grasp the dynamical and context sensitive aspects of the moral self. We submit that Ricoeur\'s narrative notion of identity, a self that reinterprets itself in every decision situation through self-narrative, is a viable alternative since it is able to incorporate context sensitivity and change, while maintaining a persisting moral identity. Finally, we argue that this narrative concept of moral self implies measuring people\'s morality in a more exploratory fashion within a delineated context.

The aim of this study was to gain insight into the phenomena of everyday life as experienced and coped with by patients living with advanced heart or lung failure. We employed a qualitative design using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Data derived from 10 nursing consultations in a holistic setting. Ricoeur\'s theory of interpretation inspired the text analysis. The study emphasizes time (past, present, and future) as an overall everyday life theme, playing an essential role associated with improvements or poor outcomes related to physical, mental, and intersubjective challenges. Patients accepted and lived with the challenges, experiencing changes, as transition, but also coped with their new normal, which involved improvements or poor outcomes, some invisible to the community. Assumptions about everyday life changed significantly, the changes possibly essential for intersubjective relations. A reflective approach, can help patients to evolve, using knowledge from the past and present to cope with the future.
Formålet med denne undersøgelse var at få indsigt i hverdagslivets fænomener, som de opleves og håndteres af patienter, der lever med fremskreden hjerte- eller lungesvigt. Vi anvendte et kvalitativt design med en fænomenologisk hermeneutisk tilgang. Data er indsamlet fra ti sygeplejekonsultationer afholdt i en holistisk ramme. Ricoeurs fortolkningsteori har inspireret til tekstanalysen. Undersøgelsen fremhæver tid (fortid, nutid og fremtid) som værende et overordnet hverdagstema, der spiller en væsentlig rolle relateret til bedre eller mindre gode resultater i forbindelse med fysiske, mentale og intersubjektive udfordringer. Patienterne accepterede og levede med udfordringerne, oplevede forandringer, som en transition, men magtede også det nye normale, som indebar forbedringer eller dårlige resultater, hvoraf nogle var usynlige for andre. Antagelser om hverdagslivet ændrede sig væsentligt, heriblandt var nogle ændringer muligvis væsentlige for intersubjektive relationer. En reflekterende tilgang kan hjælpe patienter til at udvikle sig, ved at bruge viden fra fortiden og nutiden til at håndtere fremtiden.

This narrative case study portrays a young woman\'s life experience and adjustment process after suffering a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) 5 years ago. It is analyzed retrospectively from the perspective of the middle-range theory (MRT) of adapting to chronic health conditions by Buckner and Hayden (2014), and Ricoeur\'s narrative philosophy is expanded. Understanding Alice\'s narrative from this perspective allows us to understand the process of adaptation to a condition of disability due to a spinal cord injury, from the perspective of a nurse who was forced to change her role as a caregiver to a role of being cared for, due to the changes in her body and her corporality due to the consequences of the injury. In this narrative, the focal and contextual stimuli, the coping processes with special emphasis on the intrinsic and extrinsic adaptive processes, and the results of the process are identified.

Objectives: Suffering is intimately linked to the experience of illness, and its relief is a mandate of medicine. Advances in knowledge around terminal illness have enabled better management of the somatic dimension. Nevertheless, there is what can be called \"non-somatic\" suffering which in some cases may take precedence. Inspired by Paul Ricoeur\'s thinking on human suffering, our aim in this qualitative study was to better understand the experience of non-somatic suffering. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 patients. The results were qualitatively analyzed following a continuous comparative analysis approach inspired by grounded theory. Results: Three key themes synthesize the phenomenon: \"the being enduring the suffering\", \"the being whose agency is constrained\", and \"the being in relationship with others.\" The first describes what patients endure, the shock and fears associated with their own finitude, and the limits of what can be tolerated. The second refers to the experience of being restricted and of mourning the loss of their capacity to act. The last describes a residual suffering related to their interactions with others, that of loneliness and of abandoning their loved ones, two dimensions that persist even when they have accepted their own death. Conclusions: Non-somatic suffering can be multifarious, even when minimized by the patient. When evaluating suffering, we must keep in mind that patients can reach a \"breaking point\" that signals the state of unbearable suffering. In managing it, we probably need to make more room for family and friends, as well as a posture of caring based more on presence and listening.

To explore how nurses experienced working in a newly organized COVID-19 ward with high-risk patients during a new and unknown pandemic.
A qualitative explorative study using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach.
Semi-structured individual telephone interviews were conducted in June-July 2020 with 23 nurses working in COVID-19 wards from three regional hospitals in Denmark. The nurses had been transferred from other departments at their hospital to the newly organized COVID-19 wards. Data analysis was influenced by Paul Ricoeur\'s theory of narrative and interpretation, including three analytical levels: naïve reading, structural analysis and critical interpretation and discussion.
During the structural analysis four themes were generated: (a) Challenging and uncertain situation, but also a positive experience (b) Professional and personal development (c) Lack of nurses\' rights during a pandemic (d) Reward in itself or a desire for financial reward.

BACKGROUND: While people in the societies must stay home to reduce spread of the newly discovered coronavirus, healthcare professionals do the exact opposite. For them the coronavirus is an enemy that should be defeated as a part of one\'s job. They do, however, also have a daily life with family while doing their work obligations. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the frontline healthcare professionals\' experience of balancing work life and family life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: A sample of 22 frontline healthcare professionals caring for patients with COVID-19 was included and interviewed individually from May to August 2020. Ricoeur\'s phenomenological hermeneutical philosophy inspired the methodology in this study.
RESULTS: Frontline healthcare professionals treating and caring for patients with COVID-19 are, voluntarily or involuntarily, forced to be ready to change departments as well as being ready to face the unknown coronavirus. The frontline work leads to feelings of being abandoned among their families and friends due to the threat of bringing the infection home and spreading the virus. Although healthcare professionals are facing a working life filled with uncertainty and unpredictability impacting their family life, they express opposing feelings of being a part of something bigger.
CONCLUSIONS: The work life balance for these healthcare professionals is threatened by changes in professional responsibilities, working hours and shifts. Fear of bringing the infection home challenges them ethically and creates a distance between healthcare professionals and their families, leading to a conflict within the individual if their work on the frontline is worth it - or if it is a too high price to pay. Despite facing a working life filled with uncertainty and unpredictability the healthcare professionals are being a part of something bigger that contributes to a fighting spirit and professional pride outweighing the negative consequences; like being soldiers on the front.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, patient perspectives on their relative\'s involvement in gynaecological cancer treatment and care are investigated.
METHODS: In total 17 women participated in two qualitative research interviews each during their treatment period. By applying a phenomenological-hermeneutic text interpretation methodology, the findings were systematically identified, interpreted, and discussed. This process gave rise to two main themes: \"Relatives include more than family members\" and \"Interactions with relatives and significant others\".
RESULTS: The findings showed that, besides family members, in particular neighbours and people who had experienced cancer themselves were an important and valuable support to the patients. Help with daily activities and errands, and providing informal company, represented a substantial support in difficult times, and generated a sense of social belonging and the experience of fellowship. Interactions with relatives were influenced by the patients\' personal reflections and experiences and posed several positive as well as negative challenges. Firstly, the patients had many concerns about passing on the news of their cancer disease to their social network. Loneliness, in various representations, was a persistent theme, which reflected various experiences of vulnerability.
CONCLUSIONS: Positive family relations represented a unique resource during cancer treatment; however, due to relatives\' worries or lack of support, patients could experience strain. This perspective on relatives\' involvement - from the patient\'s point of view - seems to be understudied.

BACKGROUND: Research on COVID-19 has reported data on epidemiology and pathophysiology but less about what it means to be a person living through this illness. Research involving the patients\' perspectives may help to improve healthcare professionals\' understanding of ways to support patients.
OBJECTIVE: To gain in-depth understanding of the meaning of a COVID-19 illness trajectory from the patients\' perspective.
METHODS: Fifteen participants who had undergone an illness trajectory due to confirmed COVID-19 infection participated in individual qualitative interviews. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were inspired by Ricoeur\'s philosophy and Merleau-Ponty\'s phenomenology of perception and embodiment has been applied as a theoretical frame.
RESULTS: Being infected with coronavirus is expressed as an experience in which the participants oscillate between relief, security, imprisonment and raw fear. A predominant focus on the physical dimensions of the diseased body was found in the encounters between patient and healthcare system, and distance may furthermore be a consequence of use of protective equipment. Stigma and fear of infection were also expressed. After COVID-19, an overwhelming feeling of a door opening to freedom is perceived. However, the body is marked, and bears witness to decay from this insidious and frightening virus. The responsibility for assessing their bodily symptoms is placed with the individual patients themselves, who feel lonely and fearful and this keeps them indoors.
CONCLUSIONS: During a COVID-19 illness, trajectory concerns about the unknown course of this disease are highlighted. Isolation is confrontational; however, a companionship between patients might emerge. The study shed light on an unavoidable gap between the patients and healthcare professionals due to the use protective equipment. After COVID-19, the body is labelled as something others fear and become a symbol of awe and alienation for others.

Based in narrative phenomenology, this article describes an example of how lived time, self and bodily engagement with the social world intertwine, and how our sense of self develops. We explore this through the life story of a woman who lost weight through surgery in the 1970 s and has fought against her own body, food and eating ever since. Our narrative analysis of interviews, reflective notes and email correspondence disentangled two storylines illuminating paradoxes within this long-term weight loss process. Thea\'s Medical Weight Narrative: From Severely Obese Child to Healthy Adult is her story in context of medicine and obesity treatment and expresses success and control. Thea\'s Story: The Narrative of Fighting Weight is the experiential story, including concrete examples and quotes, highlighting bodily struggles and the inescapable ambiguity of being and having one\'s body. The two storylines coexist and illuminate paradoxes within the weight loss surgery narrative, connected to meaningful life events and experiences, eating practices and relationships with important others. Surgery was experienced as lifesaving, yet the surgical transformation did not suffice, because it did not influence appetite or, desire for food in the long run. In the medical narrative of transforming the body by repair, a problematic relationship with food did not fit into the plot.