Spirituality among nursing home residents: a phenomenology of the experience of spirituality in late life

ABSTRACTSpirituality can be a valuable resource for older adults, in particular to frail and vulnerable older people such as nursing home residents. The present study aimed to describe the essence of the experience of spirituality through the perspective of the nursing home residents themselves. A purposive sample of 16 nursing home residents were interviewed following a transcendental phenomenological method. Analyses of the verbalized interviews identified seven superordinate themes including ‘feelings of support and trust’, ‘searching for meaning and finding answers’, and ‘a perspective beyond death’.