Background: Within palliative care setting persons with terminal illness is cared for. The aim of the care is to enhance the quality of life for the patient through a holistic approach. The disease can lead to major suffering and require the person to handle the situation. If the person´s ability and capacity to do so is insufficient the identity may be perceived as threatened and quality of life diminished. Self-care can help a person to cope with loss of identity, enhance independence and improve quality of life.

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore self-care strategies of patients within palliative care setting.  

Methods: The work is a systematic literature review based on ten scientific articles. Both qualitative and quantitative articles are used. Meaningful units in relation to the aim of the study were identified in the result of the articles and  analyzed. New themes and subthemes were formed. In the discussion the result is discussed with Orem self-care deficit nursing theory.

Results: The results identified various self-care actions aimed at enhancing the quality of life. Two themes were identified, one theme was to live until death and describes various self-care strategies, where the aim is to maintain normatility and identity. The second theme was to be within the sick body and consisted of strategies related to the disease from which the person suffered.

Discussions: The discussion discussed and strengthened the results by linking to literature in other contexts, and Orem´s self-care deficit nursing theory. We argue for the importance of self-care for the whole person and supports this with the reasoning of Orem.