Five Residents Speak: The Meaning of Living with Dying in a Long-Term Care Home

Personal meanings given to the experience of living with nursing home death were shared by 5 nursing home residents. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Using M. van Manen's (1990 van Manen , M. ( 1990 ). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy . London, Ontario , Canada : Althouse Press . [Google Scholar]) hermeneutic phenomenology, the lived experience of residents emerged as a compilation of 5 dynamically occurring themes, including (a) mapping relations, (b) pacing oneself, (c) maintaining belongingness, (d) reconciling death as part of life, and (e) engaging in preparatory review. The overarching essence of the lived experienced was defined as reflection toward resolution of dying as a “resident” in a sea of life gains and losses. Residents’ expressions revealed that living with peers’ dying in a nursing home is closely entwined with how life is experienced during one's final days.