Maintaining ordinariness around food: partners’ experiences of everyday life with a dying person

Abstract

To explore partners' experiences of everyday life in caring for a dying person with eating deficiencies at home. When a dying person receives care at home, eating deficiencies can influence everyday life for family members, who often take responsibility for the provision of food and meals. The literature reveals this to be emotionally stressful. Partners of dying persons are challenged both as caregivers and as partners who will soon lose their life companion. There is a need for studies that provide enhanced understanding about the influence of dying persons' eating deficiencies on their partners, from the perspective of everyday life. A qualitative design was chosen to obtain experience-based knowledge of relevance for the clinical context of palliative home care. Nine people were purposefully selected and interviewed three-six months after the death of their partner. Data collection and analysis were guided by an interpretive descriptive method. The partners described experiences of how eating deficiencies brought about changes in the participants' everyday lives. Two patterns of experiences were identified: the challenge of doing the best for their dying partner around matters involving food and mealtimes, and experiences of striving to maintain ordinariness, including holding on to social values around food, despite experiences of unfamiliarity when the dying partners' habits were changed. Living close to a person who has eating deficiencies at the end of life is challenging, both from a caring perspective and for personal well-being. The findings can assist palliative home care teams and other healthcare professionals to give support that goes beyond giving practical advice about food. Initiating talk about the current situation around food and meals at home, by posing questions and opening the way for conversations, is suggested.