[The dynamics of hope described by elderly people aged 70 and over living at home]

In previous nursing studies hope and hopelessness have been described mostly in sick middle-aged people. The study designs have been mainly cross-sectional. The dynamics of hope in elderly people has received little attention in nursing research. The purpose of this study was to describe the meanings elderly people aged 70 and over attach to the dynamics of hope. The study was based on phenomenological philosophy and method. The data were collected in spring 1997 by interviewing four over 70 years old women who lived at home. The data were analysed using the Giorgi method. According to the results hope and hopelessness are normal elements of every human life. They coexist side by side, but are opposite phenomena. Hope is a will to try in the limits of one's own possibilities. It helps at the present but directs also to the future. It is based on something in past, present and future that helps an aged person to manage in his or her life. Hopelessness is uncertainty of and fear for one's future. It is also a hard and difficult feeling. Hopelessness does not mean solely a negative experience. It can produce the wisdom of life in the future. Elderly person's own and other people's diseases and their consequences may produce hopelessness.