Patient Dignity and Related Factors: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis Study

Introduction: Dignity appears as a duty in ethics codes and as a right in human rights framework. The aim of this meta-synthesis study was to conduct a systematic review of dignity concept and its related factors in years 2000-2010. Methods: In this meta-synthesis study, a systematic review was conducted and qualitative articles related to dignity concept in Medline, Elsevier and Ovid in the period from 2000 to 2010 were selected. To facilitate the search, the term "Patient dignity" was used by MeSH system in the database Medline. Then, articles that exactly had studied patient dignity and its related factors, and dignity concept was mentioned in their title and also were published in English, were selected for analysis and were compared. Results: 620 qualitative articles related to dignity concept were founded and 64 articles were in close relation to dignity concept which included 21 articles from Medline, 3 articles from Elsevier and 40 articles from Ovid database. In general, from 64 qualitative articles in the period from 2000 to 2010, the full texts of 16 articles were selected and reviewed in an interpretive and logical manner. The results indicate that dignity is a complex and multi-dimensional concept and multiple factors are related to it which can promote or threaten it. The results of the present study also revealed categories of dignity concept, dignity dimensions, dignity promoting and dignity threatening factors. Conclusion: The key factors identified in the present study which are related to preservation and promoting patient dignity can be applied by doctors and nurses in taking care of different patients and they can also be used in conducting future studies about dignity.