title: Participating in a world that is out of tune: shadowing an older hospital patient.
abstract: Hospitalization significantly impacts the lives of older people, both physically and psychosocially. There is lack of observation studies that may provide an embodied understanding of older patients' experiences in its context. The aim of this single case study was to reach a deeper understanding of one older patient's lived experiences of hospitalization. The study followed a phenomenological embodied enquiry design and the qualitative observation method of shadowing was used. In April 2011, one older patient was shadowed for 7 days, 5-7 h per day. To facilitate understanding in the reader the experiences are first presented in a story and subsequently analyzed by means of the lifeworld framework. The findings show that hospitalization is experienced as ambiguous safety, disconnected time, the feeling of being partially involved, and the struggle to re-attune to the body.
authors.affiliation: Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, PO Box 90153, Tilburg, The Netherlands. j.w.vandermeide@uvt.nl.
authors.forename: Hanneke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van der Meide
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Olthuis
authors.affiliation: University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leget
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006302:Health Services Research; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D010358:Patient Participation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012650:Self Disclosure
keywords: Lifeworld; Older hospital patients; Phenomenology; Qualitative research; Shadowing