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Healthy ageing has been studied in various contexts. However, no studies have focused on healthy ageing from the perspective of children or grandchildren, who are the main informal caregivers for older people in northeast Thailand, also referred to as the Isan region. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the conceptions of healthy ageing harboured by children and grandchildren caring for older people in northeast Thailand. A qualitative descriptive design was performed using a phenomenographic approach with an epistemological basis in the lifeworld theory to understand the varying conceptions of healthy ageing based on participants’ lived experience. We conducted in-depth interviews comprising open-ended questions to gain an understanding of the conceptions of healthy ageing held by 14 children and grandchildren of older persons in northeast Thailand. The data collected during these interviews were analysed using the phenomenographic analysis method. The results of our analysis indicated that the conceptions of healthy ageing can be categorized into the following four descriptive categories: being independent, not being afflicted by diseases or illnesses, being a giver and a receiver, and being wise. These findings highlight that healthy ageing entails autonomy, interdependence and wisdom and emphasize the importance of holistic view on the meaning of healthy ageing. Healthcare providers should understand the different meanings of healthy ageing from the perspectives of children and grandchildren of older people and integrate their perspectives when collaborating with them to promote healthy ageing. The findings of this study may facilitate further research and ensure the provision of support to the relatives of older people to promote healthy ageing in northeast Thailand. 

The aim of this study was to describe factors associated with perceived health and healthy aging among older people in northeastern Thailand. Thailand’s aging population is growing and facing an increasing old-age dependency ratio. Northeastern Thailand, known as Isan, is a region in which the number of older residents is projected to grow rapidly. Older people in this region are likely to confront great threats to their health and well-being. These issues require appropriate attention and actions to promote healthy aging. However, healthy aging in this region has not been studied. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 453 older people, aged 60 years or older. Participants completed the Healthy Aging Instrument (HAI) and provided relevant demographic characteristics. Mann-Whitney U tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests and multiple regression models were used to analyze the data. Through comparative analyses, significant differences in HAI scores were observed for the following factors: marital status, residential area, disability, income level, and perceived meaningfulness in life. In the multiple regression models, residential area, disability, and marital status explained 24.30 % of the variance in HAI scores. Health promotion strategies and future targeted intervention programs should consider the importance of these factors. 

Healthy ageing is a concept that concerns older persons' quality of life and is a key factor in promoting well-being. The older population in Thailand is growing. Isan (a region of north-eastern Thailand) has been reported as having one of the most rapidly increasing older populations in the country. In order to care for and promote the health of older people, healthcare providers should understand how healthy ageing is perceived by this target group. Although healthy ageing has been studied in different contexts as well as perspectives, no studies have previously focused on older persons' experiences of healthy ageing from a lifeworld perspective in Isan-Thai. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe older persons' qualitatively different conceptions of healthy ageing in Isan-Thai culture. A phenomenographic approach with an epistemological base in lifeworld theory was used to disclose the various ways to conceptualize healthy ageing. Individual, qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 people aged 60 and above who live in Isan-Thai. The findings of this study revealed three categories of descriptions: "being independent in dependence,'' "being at peace,'' and "being a valuable person.'' This study also found family members, friends, healthcare providers, and religion important to healthy ageing in the Isan-Thai culture. Understanding how older people conceptualize healthy ageing is valuable for healthcare providers. They can apply these findings regarding healthy ageing in their fieldwork when caring for older people.

The aim of this study is to describe the experience of time as it presents itself at the place being situated when living with severe incurable disease and receiving palliative care. The empirical data consist of 26 open-ended interviews with 23 patients receiving palliative care at home, at a palliative day care, in a palliative bed unit in hospital or in a nursing home in Norway. A common meaning of a shifting space for living emerged from the analysis and was revealed through three different aspects: (i) Transition from a predictable to an unpredictable time: To live with severe incurable disease marks a transition to a changed life involving an ongoing weakened and altered body with bothersome symptoms making experience of time different and unpredictable. (ii) Transition between a safe and unsafe time: When time is unpredictable, feeling safe is revealed as essential to how time is experienced at the place being situated. (iii) To be in transition from a homely to a homeless existence: In a time of increased bodily weakness, unpredictable ailments and displacements, the sense of belonging to the place is revealed as significant to the experience of time. Not knowing where to be in a time of change is like an existential cry of distress where the foothold in existence is lost. The findings are discussed and interpreted as an embodied experience originating from the passage of time continually affecting life sometimes so fundamentally that it marks a transition to a changed space of life that is reflected in the experience of time.

The aim of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the experiences of shame of next of kin in end-of-life care. Seventeen next of kin who had lost a family member were interviewed. A method inspired by Gadamer's hermeneutic approach was used to interpret possible experiences of shame and to discuss these interpretations. The result showed that next of kin's experiences of shame are linked to their perception of the remaining time and are guided by views on morality and what is right and wrong. Shame can occur when the next of kin are involved and actually cause harm to the family member as well as in situations that are beyond their control. Shame can also involve actions that have nothing to do with what they have actually done but is instead a shame that is placed on them by others, for example, health professionals or relatives. Shame is interpreted as experiences of ignominy, humiliation, and disgrace. Second-order shame is also found. It is important that health professionals are aware of these experiences of unhealthy shame when they meet and support next of kin in end-of-life care.

The purpose of this theoretical article is to discuss the existential and universal feature of suffering-as illustrated by Job's suffering in the Book of Job in the Bible and by the survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami catastrophe-and to highlight its significance for health care. Further, the study is aiming at contributing to health professionals' understanding of patients' suffering. The sources are narratives, comprising Job's book, TV interviews 1 year after the tsunami catastrophe and the survivors' autobiographies. The methodological approach is a philosophical analysis. The existential, universal, ontological and epistemological aspects of suffering are carefully scrutinized to unveil the universal and existential versus culture-specific features of suffering. Based on the results, the authors' recommendations are (1) a holistic concept of the patient and health care has to seriously consider suffering in all its complexity because when a person is in pain, it is not his/her body but the whole person as a unity of body, psyche and spirit that suffers and (2) suffering should be seen as the most central concept of health care, which should provide treatment for physical pain and all dimensions of suffering: physical, social, mental and spiritual aspects. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

This article presents findings from a phenomenological study exploring experience of time by patients living close to death. The empirical data consist of 26 open-ended interviews from 23 patients living with severe incurable disease receiving palliative care in Norway. Three aspects of experience of time were revealed as prominent: (i) Entering a world with no future; living close to death alters perception of and relationship to time. (ii) Listening to the rhythm of my body, not looking at the clock; embodied with severe illness, it is the body not the clock that structures and controls the activities of the day. (iii). Receiving time, taking time; being offered - not asked for - help is like receiving time that confirms humanity, in contrast to having to ask for help which is like taking others time and thereby revealing own helplessness. Experience of time close to death is discussed as an embodied experience of inner, contextual, relational dimensions in harmony and disharmony with the rhythm of nature, environment and others. Rhythms in harmony provide relief, while rhythms in disharmony confer weakness and limit time.

The aim of the study was to gain a greater understanding of the experiences of guilt of the next-of-kin in end-of-life care. Seventeen next-of-kin who had lost a loved one were interviewed with a focus on possible experiences of guilt. A Gadamerian-based hermeneutic approach to interpret these experiences was used. The interpretation showed that next-of-kin’s experiences of guilt emanated from a situation where the next-of-kin had a moral view on what was the right thing to do, it could also originate from a wish to do the best possible for the dying person out of love for this person. The situation could also involve both these aspects.  The way in which the situation was handled, could, if the next-of-kin felt that s/he did not fulfill her/his commitments, omitted or neglected the dying person or was the cause of something, lead to experiences of guilt. The situation of being next-of-kin in end-of-life care is complex and demanding, something that health professionals are and should be aware of. Acknowledgement of experiences of guilt can help the next-of-kin in their adaptation to the end-of-life situation as a whole and maybe also give useful tools to support next-of-kin through bereavement.

The aim of the study was to explore the meaning of consolation as experienced by Job in the Book of Job and as presented in literature and how consolation relates to suffering and care. The study's theoretical design applied Ricoeur's view on phenomenology and hermeneutics. The resulting themes were as follows: consolation that is present, that originates in confrontation, that keeps suffering at a distance, that does not alleviate suffering, that originates in experience from giving comfort, and that facilitates a change of perspective. The authentic and caring consolation accepts the sufferer's incomprehensible "otherness" but however provides no answers about how to console.