Research Article

Living with Uncertainty: Older Persons’ Lived Experience of Making Independent Decisions over Time

Table 1

Examples of the structural analysis.

Meaning unitsCondensed meaning unitsSubthemeThemeMain theme

Yes, they come with me and sometimes they have to go on their own if I am not well and I have to stay home. Well sometimes I go by myself…. Well it is like you look forward to something at the beginning of the week then you go shopping. But I am not allowed to really…. I am happy with the way it is…. Well I go along with the way things are. Well I wait for Friday as if it is something special
To not be able to go out and shop for oneself and to be dependent on professional carers help imply that one’s wishes will be limited. It does not feel good but it will work Neglecting one’s own need to allow for the needs of others
Adjusting one’s own independence and dependence with regard to oneself and others Living with uncertainty as to how to relate one’s own independence and dependence with regard to oneself and others
If the professional carer does not have the time then she tells me. Then I have to understand that she will have to rush off somewhere else. There could be other people lying on the floor needing help to get up, so that is what comes first
To accept that the professional carer says that she does not have the time to help. There may be other caretakers who need her help urgently which she must attend to first
Well there are some who are a little bit faster but she is rarely here but that doesn’t really matter. Well they sometimes are in a hurry like that…. It is not often they take their time. It is different; all girls are different and do different things. Well you know who is who and who is better than the other but you never say anything because each of them does things their way. Well I would not do it that way, but we all are different I get the help I should have anyway… All professional carers are different; some are more stressed than others. One does not always agree with their ideas. To accept as long as they do what they should
Withholding one’s thoughts

Usually you can tell by looking at people what they want themselves and what they would think if you get too close or like that. If you ask someone about a personal matter they will tell you, if they do not like it, of course they would. But it happens so rarely so I cannot recall, you really notice on people how open they are. Well then you avoid that of course, remembering those you can’t talk to anyhow or about anything. Others I can talk to about anything as if they were one’s daughter coming to visit Some professional carer is more difficult to get contact with than others. It is important to know who want to open or distance themselves. To learn gradually wish of them, it is possible to talk to or not