H. Herrestad & S. Biong Table I. Examples from the structural analysis. Units of meaning Sub-themes Actually I shall see them getting married, I shall be a grandmother, I shall be their babysitter. . . . and maybe get a small job. . . . hope // that I could live with my daughter, that we could be together again. I want to get on my feet again, and I want to go forward. . . . to avenge myself, be full of wrath. I wanted to get home. // It means mostly grandfather. If I am not . . . in full swing with something . . . well established before I am 30, then // I have given up the hope. Push all the time that hope in front of you. Those who don’t have any hope left, or those who . . . where hope runs out. You cannot stop hoping either. Hopes of filling a role in relation to others Hopes for community with others Hopes for skills that may improve life Hopes of communicating a message to others Hopes for reunion with someone deceased Hope with or without limits Hope talked about as an object Hope as compulsory action Themes Hopes for life Hopes for death The act of hoping Main theme Definite and indefinite relational hopes for life and death into a fabric of social relations. It is illustrative that the next sentence of this informant is: ‘‘I have two children whom I feel a lot of shame towards for what I have done.’’ Hence, the meaning of expres- sions of hopes for internal qualities, like to get well or being happy, is part of a larger narrative of relating to others. Most of the hopes the informants have for their future life are concerned with their relations to others. They express hopes that others will accept them, be with them, allow them social roles, or help them along: ‘‘Hope for me is to live a normal life and have good contact with my grandchildren.’’ ‘‘That they [her children] can trust that I sort of . . . am proper, that would be the greatest.’’ One informant tells about her hopes for the future: ‘‘A small hope that if I . . . if I were to live on, then my family would have understood me, and then I would have happi- ness.’’ Asked about what mental pictures she had about what she hoped for, another informant answered: Yes, then . . .I might find friends, and maybe of the opposite sex also, and . . .I do have a little hope that I might meet someone of the opposite sex and . . . and maybe to get a small job. One informant also expressed hopes for others being in a situation like herself: ‘‘Many who take such an overdose, I hope they survive like me.’’ Hence, the main bulk of the hopes the informants expressed about their own future are hopes about how others will relate to them or their concerns about others. 4 (page number not for citation purpose) Citation: Int J Qualitative Stud Health Well-being 2010, 5: 4651 - DOI: 10.3402/qhw.v5i1.4651