Nursing students’ lived experiences of temporality in dementia care: A phenomenological study

Abstract

Temporality, i.e. the concept of lived time, is important for understanding and encountering older individuals with dementia. Lived time is, however, sparsely studied among nurses when it comes to caring for people with dementia. This also seems to be the case with nursing students. We are not aware of any studies on the topic that have been conducted with nursing students. Thus, the aim of the present study was to answer the research question of what lived time is about when nursing students are caring for older persons with dementia in a nursing home. A phenomenological design inspired by van Manen's hermeneutical phenomenological approach was employed to analyse 11 interviews with seven nursing students. The study was reported in accordance with the COREQ checklist. Three themes were obtained: ‘the meaning of the older person's past in the present’, ‘moments of connectedness’ and ‘living in different temporalities – when time dimensions collide’. This study has practical implications for the care of older individuals with dementia. The findings suggest seeing older people with dementia living their time in the past and the present. The future, however, requires more attention in nursing. The meaning of the various moments illuminating lived time between the students and the older individuals with dementia is further discussed.