Background: The population is growing, which places higher demands on palliative care and the need for knowledge development in nursing. Suffering is a big part of living with a terminal illness and relive suffering is part of the nurses' area of responsibility. It is of value for nurses to get insight into the patients' world of life, to provide individual palliative nursing measures. The aim in nursing is to promote quality of life through person-centered care.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe adult patients' experiences of suffering and alleviation in palliative care.

Method: The study was based on a qualitative literature study, with six scientific articles. The articles were selected from the databases Cinahl and PsycInfo, with delimitations for Peer- Reviewed, adults, English language and published between 2013-2023. To analyze the articles, the five-step model of Friberg (2017) was used.

Results: Three themes emerged from the analyses: Emotional suffering, Physical suffering and Close to death. This study showed patients different and similar experiences of suffering and alleviated suffering at the end of life. Reliving experiences was based on preparation for death, be treated with respect and compassion, be seen and heard, discuss thoughts about life and death and maintain the activities of importance.

Conclusion: By providing compassionate care, active listening, and being genuinely interested in the patients' wellbeing, increased patients' experience of life quality and gave them a sense of relief. The care measures should be individually tailored due to every patient’s unique needs. It is therefore important for nurses to have a knowledge of how suffering could appear and choose fitting palliative care measures to reach the goal of relieved suffering