1. Patient Preferences versus Family Physicians' Perceptions Regarding the Place of End-of-Life Care and Death: A Nationwide Study in Taiwan.
- Author
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Shih, Chih-Yuan, Hu, Wen-Yu, Cheng, Shao-Yi, Yao, Chien-An, Chen, Ching-Yu, Lin, Yen-Chun, and Chiu, Tai-Yuan
- Subjects
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DEATH & psychology , *PALLIATIVE treatment , *COMMUNICATION , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *PHYSICIAN-patient relations , *PSYCHOLOGY of physicians , *PROBABILITY theory , *RESEARCH funding , *SELF-evaluation , *PSYCHOLOGY of the terminally ill , *LOGISTIC regression analysis , *HOME environment , *CROSS-sectional method , *DATA analysis software , *PATIENTS' attitudes , *PHYSICIANS' attitudes , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *ODDS ratio , *PSYCHOLOGY - Abstract
Background: Enabling people to die in their preferred place is important for providing high-quality end-of-life care. Objective: The study objective was to explore patients' preferences regarding the place of end-of-life care and death and to compare these preferences with the perceptions of their family physicians. Methods: This cross-sectional study used stratified random sampling, surveying 400 registered patients and 200 of their family physicians nationwide, with a five-part, structured, self-report questionnaire. Results: Of the selected population, 310 patients (response rate 77.5%) and 169 physicians (response rate 84.5%) responded. Regarding the preferred place for end-of-life care, most of the patients would choose to receive care at home (60.6%) if home care services were available. Additionally, home was the most frequently preferred (66.5%) place of death. The family physicians' survey showed that a higher proportion of physicians selected home as the preferred place for end-of-life care and death (71.6% and 87.2%, respectively). The results of logistic regression analysis showed that patients younger than 50 years of age who believed in Chinese folk religion and who resided in a rural area were more likely to prefer to die at home. Conclusions: The most commonly preferred place for end-of-life care and death is the patient's home. Establishing a community-based palliative care system should be encouraged to allow more individuals to die in their preferred locations. There were discrepancies in the preferred place of end-of-life care and death between the patients' preferences and their family physicians' perceptions. More effective physician-patient communication regarding end-of-life care is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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