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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Sense of Coherence at End of Life in Older People
T2 - An Interpretive Description
AU - Gagne Henderson, Rebecca
AU - Holland, Carol
AU - Walshe, Catherine
PY - 2023/6/1
Y1 - 2023/6/1
N2 - As people age, losses accumulate (ie, the death of family and friends, the loss of agility, and the loss of independence). Such losses have an impact on one's Sense of Coherence, that is, one's ability to see the world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. Antonovsky deemed Sense of Coherence as a mostly stable state by the age of 30 years. Until now, there has not been an investigation into how serial loss of resources affects older people as they near the end of life. Sense of Coherence was used as the theoretical framework for this study to answer the question of how older people maintain or regain a Sense of Coherence in the presence of serious illness as they near death. Data were gathered using semistructured interviews and guided by interpretive description. This investigation found new concepts that contribute to Antonovsky's midlevel theory of salutogenesis and the construct of Sense of Coherence. Those are Incomprehensibility and Serial Loss of General Resistance Resources. The results indicate that the crux of a strong Sense of Coherence for this population is excellent communication and a coherent "big-picture" conversation.
AB - As people age, losses accumulate (ie, the death of family and friends, the loss of agility, and the loss of independence). Such losses have an impact on one's Sense of Coherence, that is, one's ability to see the world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. Antonovsky deemed Sense of Coherence as a mostly stable state by the age of 30 years. Until now, there has not been an investigation into how serial loss of resources affects older people as they near the end of life. Sense of Coherence was used as the theoretical framework for this study to answer the question of how older people maintain or regain a Sense of Coherence in the presence of serious illness as they near death. Data were gathered using semistructured interviews and guided by interpretive description. This investigation found new concepts that contribute to Antonovsky's midlevel theory of salutogenesis and the construct of Sense of Coherence. Those are Incomprehensibility and Serial Loss of General Resistance Resources. The results indicate that the crux of a strong Sense of Coherence for this population is excellent communication and a coherent "big-picture" conversation.
KW - Humans
KW - Aged
KW - Adult
KW - Sense of Coherence
KW - Communication
KW - Death
U2 - 10.1097/NJH.0000000000000948
DO - 10.1097/NJH.0000000000000948
M3 - Journal article
VL - 25
SP - 165
EP - 172
JO - Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing
JF - Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing
SN - 1539-0705
IS - 3
ER -