Transforming hope: how elderly palliative patients live with hope.

Hope is important to palliative patients; however, the process by which these patients live with hope is unknown. The purpose of this study was to describe, using a grounded theory approach, the processes by which palliative patients live with hope. Sixteen interviews were conducted with 10 home-care palliative patients (mean age 75 years) in their homes using open-ended questions. The participants defined their hope as expectations such as not suffering more and having a peaceful death.They described their main concern as wanting to "live with hope" and they achieved this through the basic social process of transforming hope. Transforming hope involved acknowledging "life the way it is", searching for meaning, and positive reappraisal. The results of this study provide a foundation for future research and the development of interventions to engender hope in older palliative patients.