RT Article
T1 Experiences of dignity: Age at onset of serious illness matters
JF Nursing ethics
VO 30
IS 7/8
SP 1038
OP 1050
A1 Nelsen, Jakob
A1 Shive, Nadia
A1 Bennett, C Robert
A1 Coats, Heather
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1876842474
AB BackgroundPreserving persons’ dignity is integral to nursing. More research is needed to explore how a diversity of patients, particularly those that experience illness from a young age, experience dignity.AimDescribe the characteristics of dignity for persons living with serious illness.Research designUsing a secondary data set of twenty audio-recorded interviews, a thematic content analysis was conducted to identify characteristics of dignity. The research team employed van Gennip et al.’s, 2013 “Model of Dignity in Illness” (1) to create a codebook, which the authors utilized to independently code twenty narrative interview transcripts.Participants and research contextTwenty persons living with serious illness of heart failure and/or dialysis-dependent renal failure who were admitted in an acute care hospital.Ethical considerationsThis study was approved on August 26, 2019, by the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB) IRB Protocol #19-1874.FindingsEarly-onset participants expressed markedly different dignity concerns than late-onset participants. In the individual domain, early-onset participants felt that their illness was “normal”; they did not experience the “healthy person to patient” transition described by older onset participants. In the relational domain, early-onset participants expressed that their relationships had already integrated their illness while late-onset participants felt that their illness harmed many of their relationships. In the societal domain, early-onset participants described dignity concerns related to how society impacted their ability to financially support themselves during their illness.DiscussionDifferences in the dignity experience of early-onset and late-onset participants are informed by Erikson’s “Model of Development” and by Aranda and Jones feminist critique of dignity in healthcare.ConclusionsPersons with early-onset illness experience dignity differently. Awareness of the importance of work and financial independence to the experience of dignity for seriously ill patients may enhance persons’ dignity experience.
K1 Narrative
K1 care of the older person
K1 Young Adult
K1 Development
K1 serious illness
K1 dignity in care
DO 10.1177/09697330231151353