Table 2.
Change from Baseline to 3-Month Follow-up for EOL Knowledge, Attitudes/Feelings, and Behaviors/Intentions for Those Who Filled out HELP form and Those Who Did Not (n = 24 returned for 3-month follow-up).
| Did NOT fill out HELP ( = 9) mean or percent | Did fill out HELP (n = 15) mean or percent | Statistically significant tests† | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | F/U | Baseline | F/U | ||
| KNOWLEDGE | |||||
| Knowledge regarding EOL care (# correct out of 4 questions) | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.1 | |
| ATTITUDES/FEELINGS* | |||||
| Death is one of my major concerns or worries | 1.75 | 1.75 | 1.82 | 1.88 | |
| Injury or pain is one of my major concerns or worries | 2.50 | 2.13 | 2.13 | 2.37 | |
| I believe there are people who could help make decisions for me if I were seriously ill and could not say what kind of medical care I would want | 2.89 | 2.13 | 2.19 | 2.13 | A, C |
| It doesn’t matter if I make a living will or tell someone about my wishes, because doctors and nurses will do whatever they want in any case | 1.13 | 1.38 | 1.31 | 1.06 | C |
| I am confident that someone will know and follow my wishes about my medical treatment if I go to the hospital with a serious illness | 2.38 | 2.75 | 2.25 | 2.06 | C |
| I am confident that the right person will be notified if I am sick or dying | 2.50 | 2.50 | 2.69 | 2.56 | |
| I am treated with respect when I go to the doctor’s or the hospital | 2.50 | 2.25 | 2.31 | 2.38 | |
| Do you worry about death | 25% | 13% | 50% | 13% | B‡ |
| BEHAVIORS/INTENTIONS | |||||
| I plan to talk to someone I know about what I would want to happen when I am seriously ill or dying (yes/no) | 50% | 63% | 63% | 94% | A, B |
| I plan to (or have already) write down my wishes about end of life care | 25% | 25% | 56% | 100% | A‡, B‡, C‡ |
| I have made funeral arrangements or plans for my body’s final resting place | 13% | 0% | 44% | 19% | A, B |
| I carry contact info of people if I become sick or die (yes/no) | 25% | 38% | 69% | 54% | A |
* 3-point Likert scale, 1 = Don’t agree, 2 = Somewhat agree, 3 = Strongly Agree
† A. indicates an overall trend between filling out HELP form or not regardless of time; B. indicates an overall longitudinal trend regardless of filling out HELP form or not; C. indicates a differential longitudinal trend between those who filled out HELP and those who did not. Trends determined at the 0.10 level. ‡ indicates statistical significance at 0.05 level