Abstract
Purpose: This study is to clarify home-visit nursing service coordination factors associated with family caregivers' satisfaction and their intention to continue the care for the elderly patients at the initial stage of end-of-life care. Methods: Subjects are family caregivers for terminally ill elderlies (31 cancer patients; 23 non-cancer patients). An anonymous self-administered questionnaire with yes/no questions was used to collect data regarding service satisfaction, intention to continue with care, and service coordination. Relationship between satisfaction and service coordination was analyzed with t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. Relationship between intention to continue with care and service coordination was also analyzed with Fisher's exact test. Results: Home-visit nursing service coordination factors with significant relationship with satisfaction were "arranging respite care" for caregivers of cancer patients, and "doctor's consultation in case of lack of information" for those of non-cancer patients. The factors significantly associated with intention to continue with care were "arranging a doctor's consultation about patient's hospitalization" for cancer cases, and "thorough explanation about the service contract", "instruction on necessary caregiving skills", "instruction on emergency procedures" and "doctor's consultation in case of lack of information" for non-cancer cases. Conclusions: In order for caregiving family's satisfaction at the first stage of home care, it is suggested that providing service coordination of respite care as needed for cancer cases, and providing an opportunity for the caregiver to obtain sufficient information from doctor for non-cancer cases are important. Furthermore, in order for caregivers to continue care for the terminally ill patients at home, it is suggested important to coordinate services for cancer cases to be able to consult about emergency hospitalization as needed, and for non-cancer cases to be able to obtain information on contract, care methods, emergency procedure in addition to consultation with doctors.
