Spouses' existential loneliness when caring for a frail partner late in life - a hermeneutical approach

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Spouses are in a vulnerable situation when caring for a frail partner late in life. Exploring their existential loneliness can be a way to understand more about their existential needs.

Method: A hermeneutic approach was used. Multistage focus group interviews were conducted with two groups consisting of five spouses, respectively, who met three times each. To work with the text, an approach was adapted where quotations are converted into poems in a linguistic manner.

Results: Existential loneliness can be understood as the following: 1) being in a transition from us to merely me, 2) being forced to make decisions and feeling excluded, 3) navigating in an unfamiliar situation and questioning oneself, and 4) longing for togetherness but lacking the energy to encounter other people. The main interpretation is that existential loneliness emerges when one is in moments of inner struggle, when one is forced to make impossible choices, when one is approaching and is in limit situations, and when one is experiencing the endless loss of the other.

Conclusion: For health care professionals to achieve a holistic picture, person-centeredness can be a way to make the spouses’ existential needs visible and to provide support based on their needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Existential loneliness
• spouses
• frail partner
• hermeneutics
• multistage focus group interview
• poems

Acknowledgments

We are most grateful to the spouses who shared their experiences with us and to the coordinators at the municipalities for the help with establishing contact with the spouses.

Author Contribution

H.L., M.R., C.K. and K.B. designed the study. H.L. and K.B. collected and analysed the data. M.R. and C.K. read the data to verify the content. All authors have contributed substantially to the final manuscript and approved it for publication.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Crafoordska Stiftelsen [2013-0841];Greta och Johan Kocks stiftelser [2014-231-401]; the Research Platform for Collaboration for Health at Kristianstad University [3/2014]; Gyllenstiernska Krapperup Foundation [2013-00-16]; Vårdalstiftelsen [2014-0127].

Notes on contributors

Helena Larsson

Helena Larsson, RN, is a PhD student in Care Science at the Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University and at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, Sweden.

Margareta Rämgård

Margareta Rämgård, RN, is a senior lecturer in Care Science and Human Geography at the Faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University, Sweden.

Christine Kumlien

Christine Kumlien, RN, is a Professor in Care Science at the Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University, Sweden.

Kerstin Blomqvist

Kerstin Blomqvist, RN, is a Professor in Nursing at the Research Platform for Collaboration for Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, Sweden.