Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39891149›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2025

Balancing acts - striving towards independence after early discharge: lived experiences of older adults and their relatives.

Aline Dragosits, Bente Martinsen, Ann Hemingway, Annelise Norlyk

Abstract read
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Article in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Aline DragositsDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, 3, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark. ad@ph.au.dk.
Bente MartinsenDepartment of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark.
Ann HemingwayDepartment of Medical Science & Public Health, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth Dorset, UK.
Annelise NorlykDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, 3, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union's H2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the MSCA-ITN-2018 under grant agreement NO 813928 NO 813928
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEarly hospital discharge is rising internationally. Hence, homecoming is a significant event that has a severe impact on the well-being of older adults and their relatives. Evidence suggests that adapting to this unfamiliar situation requires a concerted effort to strive towards independence. This study describes the meaning of striving towards independence as experienced by older adults and their close relatives during the first month after early discharge from hospital to home and examines how this process relates to their experiences of well-being.

methodsData was gathered through 18 dyadic phenomenological in-depth interviews with ten older adults discharged from three hospitals in Austria and their relatives.

resultsThe essential meaning of striving towards independence after early discharge is characterised by being at ease and further articulated in the three constituents: walking a tightrope between push and support, steady improvement as an opportunity for new possibilities and returning to cherished habits as a source of joy in life.

conclusionOur study highlights the dynamic process of striving towards independence, which encompasses acceptance, trust and identification with the condition, and is intertwined with existential dimensions of temporality, inter-subjectivity and identity. Facilitating trust in the future between the older adult and their carers, as well as helping them regain former habits, supports the strive towards independence after early hospital discharge and contributes to the experiences of well-being of older adults and relatives.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PsychologicalFamilyIndependent LivingPatient DischargeAgedAged, 80 and overAustriaFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicMaleMiddle AgedQualitative ResearchHomecomingIndependenceOlder adultsPhenomenologyReflective lifeworld researchRelativesTransitionWell-being

Identifiers

PMID39891149
PMCPMC11786380

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.