| Mrs. 18 is 71-80 years old, and suffers from heart failure and poliomyelitis. Shortly after her husband died, she got a myocardial infarction, after which she is no longer able to care for herself anymore, and she ends up in a wheelchair. Being tied to a wheelchair undermines her dignity, because she cannot go anywhere she wants without help, which makes her feel a burden to the nurses. Looking well-groomed is important for her dignity, as well as having contacts with others. However, making new contacts in the nursing home appears disappointing at first, as most other residents are cognitively impaired or cannot talk at all. After 6 months, Mrs. 18 has become more content with her life in the nursing home. She has furnished her room with her own stuff, enjoys all activities that are organized and meets with other nursing home residents whom she likes. These social aspects have a positive bearing on her sense of dignity. Mrs. 18 reflects: “I was terribly homesick the first fortnight. I just wanted to go home. I found all the people equally decrepit. Okay, I’m not well because I can’t walk and all that, but I’m still mentally all right. And I thought oh how terrible, do I have to spend my last years of life here like this? But after a couple of weeks, they had soon brought me my own things and that… Funny isn’t it? That was really a part of me, and that cheered me up a bit and I hung up some curtains. But after I got my own things back, well that made it a bit better, then it was okay. But now I am really enjoying life here. Yes because the good thing about this place is that we have such a lot of activities. And that is sociable because then we are all together, all the people from all the different parts of the complex. And there are such a lot of people at the moment who I enjoy chatting to.” Another positive effect on residing longer in the nursing home is that is becomes easier for Mrs. 18 to have to rely on the nursing home staff and to ask them something. The nurses can help her to maintain her dignity when she loses urine, by responding as if it is no problem at all: “In the beginning, oh I found it so terrible, my underwear would be a bit wet and they would say: don’t worry about it, that happens all the time here, I’ll get you a new pair. It’s just as easy. Personally, I found it disagreeable every time. I think oh no, I’ve done it in my underpants again. But well… They don’t mind. And they will never say do you need to go to the bathroom yet again, or do you need to do this or that yet again…” Mrs. 18’s health status remains stable during the study period. However, in between the 2nd and 3rd interview, Mrs. 18 receives an electric wheelchair. This improves her dignity, because she is less dependent now: “I function better now. Then I was sitting in a wheelchair and they had to push me everywhere. Then I had no choice but to sit here, so there I was waiting… They would come and get me when it was time to eat, and now I can get around everywhere myself. So no, it has changed. I now definitely feel I have more dignity than then.” In addition, by saying good-bye to her former house gradually, Mrs. 18 was able to adjust and accept her new life in the nursing home more and more. This helped her in regaining her dignity. She even says: “Yes, the nursing home isn’t so bad. Well, I have been relieved of a huge burden, otherwise I would have been left alone; my husband had died shortly before. And then you are there alone in a big apartment, you’re sitting there alone and you just have to wait until the kids come along, as it were.” |
