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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jan 24.
Published in final edited form as: J Pain Symptom Manage. 2015 Jan 31;50(1):17–27. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2015.01.006

Table 2.

Stability of Item Responses Over Nine Months After Death

Table 2A. Core Survey Items
Item 3 to 6 months 3 to 9 months 6 to 9 months
While under the care of hospice, did the patient have pain or take medicine for pain?
    % agreement 93.5 94.1 94.8
    Kappa 0.71 0.74 0.78
How much help in dealing with his/her pain did the patient receive?
    % agreement 93.9 96.7 97.1
    Kappa 0.50 0.74 0.73
Did the patient have trouble breathing or receive treatment for trouble breathing?
    % agreement 84.6 82.8 86.5
    Kappa 0.68 0.65 0.72
How much help in dealing with breathing did the patient receive?
    % agreement 94.5 93.7 95.5
    Kappa 0.56 0.54 0.58
Did the patient have any feelings of anxiety or sadness?
    % agreement 84.1 86.3 84.5
    Kappa 0.64 0.71 0.67
How much help in dealing with anxiety/sadness did the patient receive?
    % agreement 94.9 95.0 95.1
    Kappa 0.69 0.71 0.71
How much information did you receive about pain medicines?
    % agreement 90.1 91.6 93.1
    Kappa 0.43 0.47 0.55
How much information did you receive about pain medicine side effects?
    % agreement 82.8 82.5 90.5
    Kappa 0.56 0.54 0.72
How much information did you receive about trouble breathing?
    % agreement 82.3 85.6 87.3
    Kappa 0.42 0.51 0.60
How often did the hospice team keep you informed about the patients condition?
    % agreement 89.2 85.0 86.7
    Kappa 0.67 0.54 0.58
How much information did you receive about what to expect when the patient was dying?
    % agreement 88.6 88.2 90.8
    Kappa 0.60 0.57 0.65
Did you receive enough contact from hospice about your religious and spiritual beliefs?
    % agreement 93.2 89.9 92.3
    Kappa 0.56 0.42 0.49
How much emotional support did you get from hospice prior to the patient's death?
    % agreement 93.1 93.7 95.4
    Kappa 0.39 0.46 0.57
    p-positive 0.96
    p-negative 0.43
How much emotional support did you get from hospice after the patient's death?
    % agreement 91.3 92.7 93.7
    Kappa 0.37 0.45 0.50
    p-positive 0.95
    p-negative 0.42
How often did someone from hospice give confusing or contradictory information?
    % agreement 90.6 90.2 89.2
    Kappa 0.59 0.55 0.48
Was there always one hospice nurse in charge of the patient's care?
    % agreement 92.0 89.8 91.0
    Kappa 0.59 0.51 0.55
Were there problems with the hospice team not knowing enough about the patient's medical history?
    % agreement 94.1 94.7 95.2
    Kappa 0.52 0.53 0.47
How often did hospice answer your questions about the patient's care?
    % agreement 89.7 88.0 92.9
    Kappa 0.60 0.57 0.71
How often was the hospice team available to speak with you about concerns?
    % agreement 86.5 86.2 85.6
    Kappa 0.60 0.61 0.58
Did you have any concerns with the quality of the patient's care?
    % agreement 92.5 94.0 92.9
    Kappa 0.56 0.64 0.51
Overall how would you rate the quality the patient received while under the care of hospice?
    % agreement 88.6 85.8 86.7
    Kappa 0.70 0.64 0.66
How would you rate the way the hospice team responded in evenings and weekends?
    % agreement 81.6 76.4 78.9
    Kappa 0.61 0.51 0.57
Based on the care the patient received, would you recommend this hospice to others?
    % agreement 91.6 89.8 91.2
    Kappa 0.62 0.58 0.63
Average core Kappa (excluding skewed marginals) 0.56 0.54 0.58
Number of core Kappa ≤0.40 (excluding skewed marginals) 0 0 0
Table 2B. Home Module Items
Item 3 to 6 months 3 to 9 months 6 to 9 months
How much training did you receive about pain medicine side effects?
    % agreement 79.6 79.1 82.7
    Kappa 0.46 0.48 0.57
How much training did you receive about giving extra doses of medicine?
    % agreement 88.1 83.9 82.4
    Kappa 0.65 0.59 0.55
How much training did you receive about how to deliver medicines when the patient had difficulty swallowing?
    % agreement 82.1 80.2 77.6
    Kappa 0.48 0.41 0.37
    p-positive 0.85
    p-negative 0.52
How much training did you receive to help the patient with breathing?
    % agreement 88.5 85.7 86.6
    Kappa 0.68 0.64 0.65
How much information did you receive about agitation?
    % agreement 83.9 87.5 90.0
    Kappa 0.51 0.62 0.69
How much training did you receive about what to do when the patient was agitated?
    % agreement 86.8 84.4 82.0
    Kappa 0.67 0.61 0.54
How much information did you receive about how to safely move the patient?
    % agreement 89.8 90.1 90.3
    Kappa 0.65 0.69 0.67
How much training did you receive about how to safely move the patient?
    % agreement 83.8 84.1 85.3
    Kappa 0.58 0.61 0.64
Average home Kappa (excluding skewed marginals) 0.59 0.58 0.59
Number of home Kappa ≤0.40 (excluding skewed marginals) 0 0 1
Table 2C. Nursing Home Module Items
Item 3 to 6 months 3 to 9 months 6 to 9 months
How much information did you receive about hospice before you decided to enroll?
    % agreement 88.7 93.9 88.5
    Kappa 0.53 0.63 0.35
    p-positive 0.94
    p-negative 0.40
How much contact did you have with the hospice staff?
    % agreement 94.4 92.2 95.3
    Kappa 0.64 0.51 0.64
How often was the hospice team aware of the patient's condition?
    % agreement 80.9 84.7 82.4
    Kappa 0.55 0.57 0.55
How often after hospice became involved did you feel you were on your own to advocate for the patient?
    % agreement 71.0 69.6 76.2
    Kappa 0.42 0.39 0.51
    p-positive 0.72
    p-negative 0.67
Were you provided with enough information to know which concerns to discuss with the nursing home and which to discuss with hospice?
    % agreement 83.5 87.9 91.1
    Kappa 0.42 0.58 0.67
How often did hospice and the nursing home work as a team?
    % agreement 85.7 80.8 86.8
    Kappa 0.70 0.61 0.73
How often did information about the patient's care differ between the nursing home staff and the hospice team?
    % agreement 82.5 81.7 82.0
    Kappa 0.58 0.52 0.58
Average NH Kappa (excluding skewed marginals) 0.55 0.54 0.61
Number of NH Kappa ≤0.40 (excluding skewed marginals) 0 1 0
Table 2D. Inpatient Unit Module Items
Item 3 to 6 months 3 to 9 months 6 to 9 months
Did the hospice staff speak with you about the decision to transfer the patient to a hospice inpatient unit?
    % agreement 92.7 94.9 92.5
    Kappa 0.34 0.56 0.31
    p-positive 0.96 0.96
    p-negative 0.38 0.35
How much help did you receive about the decision to transfer the patient to a hospice inpatient unit?
    % agreement 92.7 94.9 94.4
    Kappa 0.54 0.69 0.57
In the hospice inpatient unit, did any of the physicians, nurse practitioners or physician assistants speak with you?
    % agreement 94.5 92.0 94.7
    Kappa 0.34 0.34 0.44
    p-positive 0.97 0.96
    p-negative 0.36 0.38
How available to answer your questions was the inpatient team?
    % agreement 86.5 90.0 90.0
    Kappa 0.36 0.52 0.51
    p-positive 0.92
    p-negative 0.44
How much information did the inpatient team give you about the patient's care?
    % agreement 92.0 92.8 94.5
    Kappa 0.38 0.26 0.41
    p-positive 0.96 0.96
    p-negative 0.42 0.29
How often was information presented in a way you could understand?
    % agreement 84.6 88.3 88.2
    Kappa 0.44 0.55 0.47
How often did the inpatient team update you on the patient's condition?
    % agreement 93.4 90.5 95.8
    Kappa 0.54 0.43 0.68
In the inpatient unit, how often did the patient get help as soon as he/she requested it?
    % agreement 81.1 86.3 85.6
    Kappa 0.48 0.58 0.56
How often did the inpatient unit staff make you feel in the way?
    % agreement 91.2 86.2 84.3
    Kappa 0.63 0.41 0.35
    p-positive 0.91
    p-negative 0.44
Was the patient's room comfortable for you and your family to visit?
    % agreement 97.8 97.1 98.6
    Kappa 0.56 0.49 0.74
Average IPU Kappa (excluding skewed marginals) 0.53 0.53 0.55
Number of IPU Kappa ≤0.40 (excluding skewed marginals) 0 0 0
Average Kappa – all items 0.57 0.56 0.59