title: Thai Buddhists' experiences caring for family members who died a peaceful death in intensive care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the meaning of Thai Buddhists' lived experiences caring for family members who died a peaceful death in intensive care units.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study made use of hermeneutic phenomenology. The participants were nine family caregivers from the southern Thailand region. Data was generated from individual interviews, and Van Manen's approach was used to analyse and interpret the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine themes structured the experiences and were reflected within the four lived worlds of relationality, corporeality, temporality, and spatiality. The participants struggled when making decisions about their family member's life in the context of changing hope. Feelings of stress and exhaustion were common. The participants valued empathetic understanding as a means for maintaining relationships with others in giving and receiving compassionate care. Caring for the self in order to give mindful care and doing one's best in the moment also significantly contributed to achieving a peaceful death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest nursing practice guidelines for models of family-centred care and family participation in end-of-life care in intensive care units.
authors.affiliation: Medical Nursing Department, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand. waraporn.k@psu.ac.th
authors.forename: Waraporn
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kongsuwan
authors.forename: Orapan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chaipetch
mesh_terms: D002016:Buddhism; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003422:Critical Care; D003643:Death; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans