The concept of dignity

This chapter explores the concept of dignity, drawing on a range of perspectives. It starts with reflective exercises to enable to explore own understanding of dignity and develop a personal definition of dignity. The chapter explores published definitions of dignity. The concept analyses highlight that dignity is complex and multidimensional. Mairis's concept analysis identified critical attributes of dignity as being the maintenance of self-respect, self-esteem and appreciation of individual standards. Dignity in care is influenced by multiple and interconnecting influences and, furthermore, the concept is abstract and difficult to define and is consequently adequately understood, contributing to a lack of clarity about what kind of caring activities preserve dignity in practice. Worldwide empirical evidence confirms that, for a positive healthcare experience, patients and clients need to feel that their dignity is upheld and that healthcare professionals also view dignity as important for patients and as a valuable part of their professional practice.