Introduction: Ageing in place, is in most European societies a social norm and is made possible by home-based care services and by support from relatives. Yet some older adults describe ageing in place as an unsatisfying life situation and instead apply for a nursing home. Thus, relatives supporting these older adults´ daily lives are part of that experience but the knowledge of how that unsatisfying experience is shared by the relatives is limited. Hence, the study aimed to describe experiences of being a relative to a nursing home applicant.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone with 15 relatives (spouse n=2, children n=13) to nursing home applicants. The data was collected in year 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach according to Braun and Clark.
Results: Preliminary results show that the relatives have many expectations to handle, both from themselves, the nursing home applicant and healthcare. In addition, the covid-19 pandemic made it difficult to fulfill the expectations and the relatives consider both their own and the nursing home applicant’s situation as fragile. Final themes will be presented at the conference.
Conclusion: Increased understanding of what experiences that influence everyday activities when ageing in place, could facilitate occupational therapists’ work with older adults living at home. For example, relatives should be included at an early stage of the occupational therapy process in order to provide insight into which areas of daily life occupational therapists should prioritize and support.