Aging often bring about several losses, such as loss of bodily functions but also losses of significant others who pass away. Older people being in the last period in life are particularly vulnerable as they often live with complex symptoms and problems and are dependent on others. Existential loneliness, a deeper sense of loneliness, seems to occur in relation to threatening life events and losses, but there is still limited knowledge about frail old people’s experience of existential loneliness. The aim of the study was to illuminate the lived experience of existential loneliness as narrated by frail old people. The study had a qualitative descriptive design based on 21 interviews with persons 75 years and older receiving long-term care and service, using a phenomenological hermeneutical analysis. The interviews were rich of narratives about situations that was connected with a deep feeling of loneliness. The findings showed that existential loneliness meant Being trapped in the own body, Not being able to share, Being invisible, Lacking purpose and meaning and a Longing for serenity. The findings are important in order to highlight older people’s existential needs and to guide health professionals to discover and encounter existential loneliness among their patients.
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