The aim of this study was to obtain an increased understanding of the experiences of elderly people in geriatric care, with special reference to integrity. Data were collected through qualitative interviews with elderly people and, in order to obtain a description of caregivers' integrity-promoting or non-promoting behaviours, participant observations and qualitative interviews with nursing students were undertaken. Earlier studies on the integrity of elderly people mainly concentrated on their personal and territorial space, so Kihlgren and Thorsén opened up the possibility of considering the concept of integrity from a broader view by recognizing its relationship to the larger framework of the self-concept. Based on this, findings in the present study indicate that elderly people's integrity relating to their corporal self were the least violated. On the other hand, their psychological, information and cultural selves were the most exposed. The study also identified a further dimension (i.e. one relating to social self), which should be included in the concept of integrity because respecting elderly people's social self reduces their feelings of loneliness, isolation and seclusion. In summary, the results indicate that the concept of integrity is complex and has several dimensions.

This article reveals a 91-year-old cognitively intact man's lived experiences of being cared for in a geriatric context in which the majority of the patients were cognitively impaired. A narrative patient story was analysed phenomenologically. The findings indicate that this patient's basic needs for ethical care were not met. The staff did not see him as a unique individual with his own preferences, resources and abilities to master his life. In order to survive this lack of ethical care, he played the role of an 'old cognitively impaired man', which provided him with at least the understanding and attention the cognitively impaired patients received from the staff. The findings also indicate that ethical care is independent of whether or not older cognitively intact and impaired patients stay or live in the same unit, but it is more dependent on a caregiver's ability to respect and confirm each and every patient for who he or she is and would like to be.

AIM: The aim of this study was to deepen understanding of the relationship between autonomy and integrity in interactions between patients and individual health care workers in real-life care situations. METHOD: The data reported here are from a 6- and 12-month follow-up of the teaching of ethics to health care professionals working with older people. The data collection method used was participant observation. Health professionals' caring behaviour in everyday situations was observed from the point of view of patients' autonomy and integrity. Theoretical frameworks relating to autonomy and integrity were used to analyse the data. FINDINGS: The structural framework was useful for identifying the two concepts and their relationship in everyday situations. The data suggest that the two concepts are ethically complex. Autonomy is grounded in respect for patients' ability to choose, decide and take responsibility for their own lives. Autonomy varies within and between individuals and is dependent on context and on those involved. It stresses the intrinsic value of patients, which marks their worth independently of others. Integrity, however, is bound to patients' very existence, no matter what their physical and mental conditions, and must be respected regardless of their ability to act autonomously. CONCLUSION: The concepts of autonomy and integrity appear to presuppose one another and to be indivisible if older adult patients' dignity is to be maintained. This implies that when patients' autonomy is supported their integrity is protected and, consequently, their dignity upheld.