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Aim:

The aim of this study was to explore relatives’ existential concerns when caring for a seriously ill family member as well as to describe interventions that meet these concerns.

Methods:

In this integrative literature review we assessed and classified 17 papers, 12 qualitative and 5 quantitative. Literature was sought in the databases Cinahl, PubMed, Psykinfo and Web of Science in September 2009 and in March 2010. Search terms used in different combinations were: family, family caregiver, next of kin, relatives, palliative, palliative care, end-of-life care, existential, spirit*. Data were redrawn from the papers results/findings, and synthesized into a new descriptive content.

Results:

The results were categorized from 13 papers exploring relatives’ important existential concerns and 4 papers describing interventions aimed to support them in the existential area. A majority of the reviewed papers had been written in …