The adaptation of the Dignity Care Intervention to a Swedish context

Background: The Dignity Care Intervention (DCI) was developed in Scotland by Johnston and co-workers for nurses in municipality care, to enhance dignity in persons with palliative care needs. DCI includes a questionnaire, examples of reflective questions and suggests care actions. DCI has been tested in Ireland, and is now adapted to Swedish. Objective: To translate and adapt the DCI to a Swedish palliative context. Method: The questionnaire was translated and adapted into Swedish and reviewed by an expert group, before validated in cognitive interviews (N=7) with older persons. To update evidence concerning care actions from a Swedish context, a review of Swedish research literature and interviews with older persons, relatives and health care professionals were carried out. This gathered knowledge has been integrated into the Swedish DCI (DCI-SWE) and a feasibility study now takes place in one municipality in home care, Sweden. Included nurses got repeated information and participated in a shorter DCI-education, and will use the DCI in their everyday work for three months. Follow-up interviews will be conducted and analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results: The Swedish version of the questionnaire was experienced relevant for older persons, and both the Swedish review and the interviews gave culturally relevant proposals about dignity care actions. Further, a feasibility study will contribute to the ongoing development of the Swedish DCI-version. Conclusion and implication for practice: Implementing DCI in Sweden can enhance dignity in persons with palliative care needs and facilitate for a person-centered care.Dignity Care Projec