Spirituality and religiosity help elderly people find strength, protection, and meaning in daily life, enabling them to overcome difficulties and achieve a sense of fulfillment. In a qualitative study of 11 elderly participants, a shared awareness of a higher power emerged as central to their experience of transcendence. These spiritual and religious resources also fostered understanding of their personal history and a feeling of enlightenment. The findings suggest that the daily lives of elderly individuals are deeply shaped by spiritual and religious relationships that give purpose to their existence.
A nursing strategy based on the Theory of Self-Transcendence was implemented with fourteen older adults and three nurses at a primary health center in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, from October to November 2022. Through expression of feelings, discussions about self-transcendence and spirituality, and promotion of physical activity, the strategy was satisfactory. Emotional, cognitive, and spiritual changes were observed across different dimensions of the theory. The approach helped identify significant moments in participants' lives and enabled person-to-person care.