Exploring the perceptions of dignity among patients and nurses in hospital and community settings: an integrative review

Stephen Ekpenyong, M, Nyashanu, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9231-0393, Ossey-Nweze, C and Serrant, L, 2021. Exploring the perceptions of dignity among patients and nurses in hospital and community settings: an integrative review. Journal of Research in Nursing. ISSN 1744-9871

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Abstract

Background: Patients have a right to be treated with dignity. However, reports have continually identified concerns regarding the quality of care and dignity in hospitals. Undignified care can have unfavourable impact on the patient's recovery such as leading to depression and loss of will to live. The aim of this study was to explore dignity as perceived by patients and nurses within hospital and community environments.

Methods: An integrative review methodological approach was adopted. Nine databases including Medline, CINAHL plus with full text, Web of Science, Embase, Pubmed, Psycinfo, Scopus, Nursing and Allied Health Source, and Science Direct were systematically searched for relevant articles using a predetermined set of inclusion criteria. Articles were included if they were primary empirical studies, peer reviewed, published between 2008-2019, assessing patients' or nurses' perception of dignity outside the end-of-life context, conducted in one of the European countries and written in English. Included papers were analysed using constant comparative analysis. The preferred reporting system for systematic review and meta-analysis (Prisma) flow diagram was used for quality appraisal and review.

Results: Fourteen relevant articles were included in this review. Four overarching themes and 10 subthemes were identified as impacting on patient dignity. Overarching themes include autonomy, healthcare delivery factors, organisational factors and the meaning of dignity, whilst subthemes include dependence/independence, choice, staff attitudes, communication, privacy, structure of services, staff shortages, physical environment, respect and person-centred care.

Conclusion: There are a wide range of factors impacting on patient dignity. Adopting evidence-based interventions supported by adequate theoretical backing can help to enhance patient dignity in hospital and community settings.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Research in Nursing
Creators:	Stephen Ekpenyong, M., Nyashanu, M., Ossey-Nweze, C. and Serrant, L.
Publisher:	Sage
Date:	8 November 2021
ISSN:	1744-9871
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/1744987121997890 DOI 1491574 Other
Rights:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	15 Nov 2021 11:30
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2021 11:30
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/44770

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