In-depth knowledge of what it means to patients to receive health care services is crucial to the development of adequate protocols for nursing. Qualitative research allows us to gain important insight into what is experienced by and meaningful to patients. The French philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s thoughts have inspired qualitative researchers to conduct various forms of analysis and interpretation that increase our knowledge of ways of being-in-the-world. This article describes and discusses how a specific approach to derive in-depth knowledge of patients’ lived experiences can be taken. A combination of participant observations and interviews was used to generate data. Field notes and transcribed interviews were gathered as one collective text and analyzed and interpreted with inspiration from Ricoeur’s thoughts on narratives and interpretation. This approach is argued to be a significant way of developing in-depth knowledge of patients’ lived experiences. Such knowledge is important within nursing science.

Knowing that patients are confronted with an existential anxiety during exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation is important because it requires specific care. Recognising this anxiety also highlights how participating in the programme can be very demanding, which can help us understand aspects of adherence problems. Of greatest importance is that exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation enables patients to find a new foothold, which comprises enjoying being physically active.

Background: More feasible rehabilitation programmes for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are warranted. Even so, still in its infancy, telerehabilitation to COPD patients reveals promising results, wherefore it is anticipated to contribute significant value to the current challenges of rehabilitation to these patients. To expand useful knowledge in the field, more sophisticated telerehabilitation interventions must be developed and appraised, but first and foremost, thoroughly described. Aims and methods: The aim of this article is to give a detailed description of the rationale and content of the >C☺PD-Life>> programme, within the bounds of the checklist of Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR). Approach: >C☺PD-Life>> is a telerehabilitation programme for COPD patients delivered as a study intervention by an interprofessional team of clinicians collaborating from both the hospital and the municipal healthcare system. Making use of two-way audio and visual communication software, 15 patients participated in the intervention via a tablet computer from their private setting. The programme was a six-month-long empowerment-based rehabilitation that aimed to support COPD patients in leading a satisfactory and confident life with appropriate physical activity and high disease management. Conclusions: A long-term interprofessional cross-sectoral telerehabilitation programme has been justified and described. The intervention was tested in 2017–2018 and the qualitative appraisal, along with an analysis of case-based measurements of development in physical capacity, COPD Assesment Test, and health management, is currently under production.

This study aimed to investigate what it means to patients afflicted by a minor heart attack to participate in cardiac rehabilitation (CR). CR is well-established internationally to support patients towards moving forward in satisfying, healthy, and well-functioning lives. Studies indicate that patients achieve improvement in quality of life when participating in CR. However, knowledge of how patients are supported during CR is sparse. Moreover, knowledge of what participating in CR means to patients afflicted by a minor heart attack is lacking. In-depth knowledge in this area is crucial in order to understand these patients’ particular gains and needs. In a phenomenological-hermeneutic frame field observations, focus group interviews, and individual interviews were conducted among 11 patients during and after their participation in CR. Field notes and transcribed interviews underwent three-phased interpretation. It was found that patients were supported to gain renewed balance in their lives during CR. Three themes were identified: (1) receiving a helpful but limited caring hand, (2) being supported to find new values in life, and (3) developing responsibility for the remaining time. The patients were carefully guided through a difficult time and supported to continue in healthy everyday lives. They were given hope which enabled them to find themselves a new foothold in life with respect to their own sense of well-being. This guidance and a sense of hopefulness were provided by heart specialists and more seasoned heart patients. In conclusion, patients were empowered to achieve a healthier lifestyle and improve their personal well-being during CR. However, structural barriers in the programme prevented adequate support regarding the patients’ total needs. Knowledge of the benefits of CR emphasizes the significance of the programme and highlights the importance of high inclusion. Efforts should be made to develop more flexible and longer lasting programmes and further involvement of relatives must be considered.

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Background: Research has identified how people living with incurable esophageal cancer experience existential concerns. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the phenomenon of existential anxiety when living with esophageal cancer in the context of receiving general palliative care in a hospital setting. Methods: This qualitative study is inspired by phenomenological and hermeneutical aspects of the philosophies of Ricoeur and Heidegger. Applying Heidegger's theory of existential anxiety and nostalgia, we interpreted the narratives of 18 patients receiving palliative care due to incurable esophageal cancer. Results: The patients experienced existential anxiety at the loss of a future and homeliness when receiving palliative care. Their existence was reduced to the present, with a break in temporal continuity. An anxious mood permeated their entire being-in-the-world in an unhomelike way. Despite this, patients initiated a restoration of home and meaning expressed as a soothing sense of nostalgia that served as an atmospheric, safe space allowing them to inhabit the borderline between past, present, and future. Conclusions: The study suggests an empirical interpretation of the existential anxiety patients experience when receiving palliation for incurable

Purpose: As part of intervention feasibility evaluation before conducting a clinical trial, this study aimed to investigate perspectives of patients and clinicians involved in the occupational therapy lifestyle-oriented programme REVEAL(OT) [Redesign your EVEveryday Activities and Lifestyle with Occupational Therapy] which was added to multidisciplinary chronic pain treatment. Methods: We conducted three focus group interviews, two with eight voluntarily selected patients and one with four clinicians. Data were analysed using Braun & Clarke's semantic data-driven analysis. Results: Patients reported satisfaction with the intervention and a greater acceptance of living with chronic pain through increased understanding of pain mechanisms, more effective daily planning and improved social interaction. Patients felt empowered to change lifestyle habits by restarting habitual interests, prioritizing joyful occupations for improved occupational balance, and lifestyle modifications. Contact to occupational therapists and peer support were important empowering factors for working with lifestyle goals. Patients and clinicians expressed their views on further improvement of the REVEAL(OT). Conclusions: Patients and clinicians found the lifestyle-oriented occupational therapy programme relevant as an add-on to the multidisciplinary chronic pain treatment. A need was expressed for a reduced information and treatment load and a higher degree of communication and cooperation among the clinicians involved in the intervention.

Aim To investigate the lived experience of being a relative to a patient admitted to an acute neurological ward to bring knowledge of what is essential to them. Design The study takes a phenomenological–hermeneutic approach. Methods Data were gathered through six individual semi‐structured interviews with relatives from an acute neurological ward. A three‐levelled analysis and interpretation inspired by Paul Ricoeur's philosophy was applied. Results Two main themes were identified: To make yourself strong while feeling vulnerable inside and To live in a changed everyday life. Within these themes, the connection between the relatives and the patients appeared to be a relationship of love. In this relationship, the relatives experience existential vulnerability. The lives of relatives undergo a difficult upheaval, which is challenged by deep emotional feelings. However, to be able to be there for their loved ones they are sheltering under a shield of love.