"They were talking about me"--elderly women's experiences of taking part in a discharge planning conference.

• INTRODUCTION: Discharge planning procedures needs improving to make transition to care settings in the community smooth, safe and secure. Research about discharge planning that involves a patient perspective is limited. The intention of this study was to focus on the patients' (elderly women) experiences of taking part in discharge planning conferences (DPCs) to deepen our understanding of the meaning of facing "the world of the institution" from a life-world perspective. AIM: This study aims at describing elderly women's experience of taking part in a DPC as they are about to be discharged from hospital. METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN: To illuminate the phenomenon from a life-world perspective, an interview study was chosen. Eight follow-up interviews with seven elderly women were carried out. The interviews were analysed using a qualitative content analysis methodology. FINDINGS: The interpretation of data was that the women's future was as in suspense as they got ill or were hit by accidents. The analysis revealed four themes that reflected the women's experiences of taking part in the DPCs: Being affiliated; Being in focus, Standing outside; and finally Being unprepared. STUDY LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION: The limitations of the study are related to: selection of participants; participation in the interview was connected to a video recording study; gap in time between participation in the DPC and the interview. The findings are still seen as trustworthy as the experiences expressed by the participating women in data are to be seen as a contribution to an emerging understanding of the meaning of the phenomenon from a life world perspective. The findings make clear that the institutional world easily and without much resistance from the patients transgresses the border of their life worlds. This awakes a need to reconsider how a caring perspective can be established in practice.

Nyckelord

Adaptation; Psychological

Aged/*psychology

Aged; 80 and over

Attitude to Health

Communication

Empathy

Family/psychology

Female

Follow-Up Studies

Health Knowledge; Attitudes; Practice

Health Services Needs and Demand

Humans

Narration

Nursing Methodology Research

Patient Discharge

Patient Education as Topic

Patient Participation/methods/*psychology

Power (Psychology)

Qualitative Research

Questionnaires

Social Support

Sweden

Uncertainty

Women/*psychology

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