Background:  In the hospice care specialized palliative care is practiced on patients that are at the end of their lives, and nurses meet grieving relatives on a daily basis, both after and before the event of death. When the patient is deceased the relatives are offered to be present in the room while the nurses provide care for the deceased individual. It’s not as well-known if the relatives are offered to help the nurses care for the dead body.

Aim: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether nurses’ have experiences of    caring for the dead body together with the relatives.

Method: A qualitative method has been used with semi-structured telephone interviews. The material has been analyzed with a qualitative content analysis according to Granheim and Lundman (2004). Eight nurses in the hospice care, in the middle and south of Sweden, have been interviewed. From these eight nurses, five have experiences of providing care for the dead body together with the relatives.

Results: The analysis resulted in a main theme, participation in the light, with three subthemes, mutual caring which is beneficial both for nurses and relatives, professional approach which is based on experience and knowledge, as well as collegial learning. Nurses that have the experience of caring for the dead body with the relatives, are seen to have a readiness for action and to provide the care in a respectful fashion. Central for nurses are their interest in participating and to offer others to join in.

Discussions: The discussion is based on Andershed’s (1998) theoretical frame of understanding, with the metaphor participation in the light, as well as current research. In the discussion the concepts to know, to be, to do are used. The nurses in the study are contented to provide the care for the dead body together with the relatives. They feel gratification with the relatives’ participation, as they share the experience with them. It provides closure.