title: The significance of meaningful and enjoyable activities for nursing home resident's experiences of dignity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Living in a nursing home may be challenging to the residents' experience of dignity. Residents' perception of how their dignity is respected in everyday care is important.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine how nursing home residents experience dignity through the provision of activities that foster meaning and joy in their daily life.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative design was used and 28 individual semistructured interviews conducted with nursing home residents from six nursing homes in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. Independent ethical committees in all participating countries granted their approval for the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The participants highlight two dimensions of the activities that foster experiences of dignity in nursing homes in Scandinavia. These two categories were (i) fostering dignity through meaningful participation and (ii) fostering dignity through experiencing enjoyable individualised activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Activities are important for residents to experience dignity in their daily life in nursing homes. However, it is important to tailor the activities to the individual and to enable the residents to take part actively. Nurses should collect information about the resident's preferences for participation in activities at the nursing home.
authors.affiliation: University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway.
authors.forename: Åshild
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Slettebø
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Berit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saeteren
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Synnøve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caspari
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Vibeke
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lohne
authors.affiliation: Stord/Haugesund University College, Stord, Norway.
authors.forename: Arne Wilhelm
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Rehnsfeldt
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne Kari Tolo
authors.initials: AKT
authors.lastname: Heggestad
authors.affiliation: Nord University, Bodø, Norway.
authors.forename: Britt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lillestø
authors.affiliation: VIA University College, Århus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Høy
authors.affiliation: Sogn and Fjordane University College, Førde, Norway.
authors.forename: Maj-Britt
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Råholm
authors.affiliation: University of Karlstad, Karlstad, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lillemor
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lindwall
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Trygve
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aasgaard
authors.affiliation: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Dagfinn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nåden
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
keywords: Scandinavia; caring science; dignity; health promotion; nursing; nursing home; older people; recreation