Table 3.

Codes and discourse of patients and relatives on the need to be present during the end-of-life process.

Dimension	Codes	Dating	Informants	Discourse
Presence	Accompaniment	12	Patient	PA15: “My family and friends are with me as much as they can, although sometimes I feel they take care of me with excessive caution and fear. I want to be seen as the person I always was, not just someone who is dying”.
		10	Relative	FA1: “When I’ve had any doubts, I have a phone to call, that… It’s very important. I remember the day the unbearable pain began, nothing made him calm it, knowing that he had them on the other end of the phone and that sweetness and security with which they talk to you… That’s priceless and allowed me to keep her at home, just the way she wanted”. FA5: “When they would come home and say, ‘You’re the best patient we have, you’re doing great… It gave him the energy he lacked to continue until the next visit”.
	Solitude	8	Patient	PA15: “As the disease progressed, the feeling of isolation grew stronger. At times, it was as if I was trapped in a world apart, with questions and fears that seemed to have no answer. However, the constant presence of my family and the unconditional support of the medical team brought me invaluable comfort. Knowing that they were by my side, sharing every step of this path, made the burden more bearable. I didn’t feel alone in this fight, and that made all the difference”.
		8	Relative	FA7: “When everything got worse they called me almost every day and they came very often both they and the professionals of the health center, It helped me to feel accompanied in this story in which you have so many doubts that you never know if you are doing everything right. They have helped me a lot and although it has been difficult, it is more bearable not to feel alone”
	Family empowerment	5	Relative	FA18: “Thanks to my care I had her for seven months”, “when I came to the caregiver workshop at the health center, I realized that I was doing very well”, “I healed her injuries… as you have taught me”, “I slept with her every day and hugged her so she did not feel alone”, “I wanted her to leave with the greatest dignity in the world: I put her candles that smelled, the soft music… so that she would perceive peace and tranquility at home”, “I washed her, I dressed her…”. FA15: “From the first day you came to my house, everything started to change, the whole family started to change, my children were a little separated from their father’s illness, they didn’t expect it to be so advanced, when he said he was worried that I would be left alone… That caused an awakening in my children and although the end has been the same… The journey has been very different, they have not left their father or me alone. I can only thank you”. FA6: “There will come a time when she will not be able to move from the bed, the nurse told me one of the first days: I fell badly, I thought it was an exaggerated but over time I understood that this was the case and that at this time and as the nurse told me what I had left was to help my mother-in-law be happy and so it was between all of us we got it to be happy during the 11 months it lasted, we spent a Christmas eating the grapes in the room with her, we celebrated her birthday…”. “You helped us to live with her and enjoy those moments. She was happy and we were happy with her”.

Source: own elaboration.