“ […] here, we nurture their bodies but not their souls… “ : A qualitative study on the fundamental national values in the geriatric care and how its concepts participation and meaningfulness is interpreted and put into practice by assistant nurses

The purpose of this study is to examine how Swedens national values concepts participation and meaningfulness interpreted and converts by assistant nurses, a municipality in southern Sweden, in order to deepen the knowledge of the national values. Method: A qualitative approach has been used as a method in this study, with semi-structured interviews as a base. To gather empirical material, we chose to interview seven nurses who are currently working as assistant nurses in care for the elderly. Theory: Our theoretical points have been Antonovskys salutogenic approach and SOC, sense of coherence, and Maslow's pathogenic hierarchy of needs. These different theories and approaches have helped us to analyze our empirical material. Results: The four different themes, presented in the results of this study, are designed based on previous scientific research. The different themes in this study are the following: Swedens national values ​​and the municipality's interpretation, participation and meaningfulness, time-, attitude- and dignityperspective. Our results indicate that the basic needs outweigh the social needs and that the assistant nurses prioritize the basic needs. The results of this study show that on one hand there is a strong connection between the keywords, participation and meaningfulness, but on the other hand, there is also a strong connection between the priorities of needs and the timeperspective in the care of the elderly.