Work

The impact of support from medical professionals on families' decision-making during end-of-life care

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Families are involved in decision-making regarding end-of-life (EOL) care in Japan. However, how support from medical professionals toward families' decision-making affects families' satisfaction with EOL care has not been adequately studied. We aimed to examine the impact of support from medical professionals considering the care recipients' preferences on families' overall satisfaction with EOL care and the mediating effect of fulfilling care recipients' preferences.We administered self-report questionnaires through home-nursing providers to bereaved families (n=753), who lost loved ones between April 2015 and March 2016. Analyses were conducted with 237 of these bereaved families whose loved ones had been ≥65 years old, and had no missing values in key variables. We asked whether the families had received any support from medical professionals in determining the care recipients' EOL preferences, in discussing how to honor the care recipients' own interests, and in supporting the families' decision-making. We also collected data measuring the overall satisfaction with EOL care, families' perceptions that the care recipients' preferences were honored during EOL care, and demographic characteristics of care recipients and caregivers.Data from 58 male and 179 female family members were analyzed. The average age was 65.8 (standard deviation [SD]=11.9) years. Care recipients were 113 men and 124 women, and their average age was 83.0 (SD=9.1) years old at the time of death. A path analysis revealed that support for families from medical professionals was related to families' satisfaction with EOL care through the mediating factor of fulfilling care recipients' preferences.Support from medical professionals considering care recipients' preferences will help families' involvement in EOL decision-making.

Source: Nippon Ronen Igakkai Zasshi Japanese Journal of Geriatrics

DOI: 10.3143/geriatrics.57.163

Authors: Kazuhiro Nakazato, Tomoko Wakui, Hiroko Kodama, Chiho Shimada

Institutions: Shokei University Junior College, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Aomori University of Health and Welfare

Language: English

Topic: Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science