Table 1. Characteristics of the study participants.

Patients a
Number of participants
Sex (male/female)	10/8
Age groups (number of patients; range)
18–44 years old	3
45–64 years old	7
65+ years old	8
Informal care support
Living with a patient	11
Family caregiver	4
Informal caregiver other than family caregiver	2
No informal care	1
Diagnosis—cancer	16
Sarcoma (osteosarcoma)	1
Gastric intestinal cancer (appendix, 2; gastric, 1; colon, 1)	4
Brain tumor (1)	1
Urogenital cancer (bladder, 1; cervix, 1; prostate, 2)	4
Head and neck cancer	2
Melanoma	1
Breast cancer	1
Pancreatic carcinoma	2
Diagnosis—COPD	2
Number of patients via recruitment strategy
Primary care physicians	3
Palliative care nurses from renowned homecare institution	1
Specialist palliative care team	12
Specialist nurses for respiratory diseases	2
Primary care physicians
Number of participants
Independent primary care physicians	18
SPCT members
Number of participants
Palliative care physicians	8
Nurse practitioners/nurses	4

^aFour patients far exceeded the 3-month life expectancy (range 192–418 days in the study). Twelve patients remained in the study less than 2 months; of these 12 patients, 1 left the study because of dissatisfaction, 2 left because of transfer to a hospice, and 1 left because of the prospect of receiving euthanasia.