Table 3.

Percent Agreement on Core Survey Items as Grief Changed or Remained Constant Between Three and Six Months

Item	Grief improveda (n=39)	Grief remained constant (n=202)	Grief worseneda (n=35)
While under the care of hospice, did the patient have pain or take medicine for pain?
Kappa	0.21	0.71	1.00
p-positive	0.92
p-negative	0.29
How much help in dealing with his/her pain did the patient receive?
Kappa	0.34	0.68	−0.05
p-positive	0.94		0.94
p-negative	0.40		0.00
Did the patient have trouble breathing or receive treatment for trouble breathing?
Kappa	0.60	0.69	0.79
How much help in dealing with breathing did the patient receive?
Kappa	n/ab	0.69	0.00
p-positive	1.00		0.95
p-negative	n/a		0.00
Did the patient have any feelings of anxiety or sadness?
Kappa	0.39	0.70	0.28
p-positive	0.77		0.80
p-negative	0.62		0.46
How much help in dealing with anxiety/sadness did the patient receive?
Kappa	0.62	0.74	0.63
How much information did you receive about pain medicines?
Kappa	0.63	0.60	0.18
p-positive			0.89
p-negative			0.29
How much information did you receive about pain medicine side effects?
Kappa	0.72	0.52	0.43
How much information did you receive about trouble breathing?
Kappa	−0.06	0.53	0.11
p-positive	0.94		0.77
p-negative	0.00		0.67
How often did the hospice team keep you informed about the patients condition?
Kappa	0.46	0.71	0.71
How much information did you receive about what to expect when the patient was dying?
Kappa	0.38	0.56	0.42
p-positive	0.88
p-negative	0.50
Did you receive enough contact from hospice about your religious and spiritual beliefs?
Kappa	0.61	0.51	−0.03
p-positive			0.97
p-negative			0.00
How much emotional support did you get from hospice prior to the patient's death?
Kappa	0.35	0.53	0.35
p-positive	0.95		0.95
p-negative	0.40		0.40
How much emotional support did you get from hospice after the patient's death?
Kappa	0.62	0.24	0.51
p-positive		0.94
p-negative		0.30
How often did someone from hospice give confusing or contradictory information?
Kappa	0.72	0.57	0.71
Was there always one hospice nurse in charge of the patient's care?
Kappa	0.83	0.62	0.67
Were there problems with the hospice team not knowing enough about the patient's medical history?
Kappa		0.59
p-positive	−0.04		0.27
p-negative	0.95		0.92
	0.00		0.33
How often did hospice answer your questions about the patient's care?
Kappa	0.44	0.59	0.71
How often was the hospice team available to speak with you about concerns?
Kappa	0.79	0.44	0.76
Did you have any concerns with the quality of the patient's care?
Kappa	0.21	0.66	1.00
p-positive	0.92
p-negative	0.29
Overall how would you rate the quality the patient received while under the care of hospice?
Kappa	0.67	0.69	0.66
How would you rate the way the hospice team responded in evenings and weekends?
Kappa	0.36	0.51	0.60
p-positive	0.79
p-negative	0.57
Based on the care the patient received, would you recommend this hospice to others?
Kappa	0.53	0.58	0.76
Average core Kappa (excluding skewed marginals)	0.59	0.61	0.63
Number of core Kappa ≤0.40 (excluding skewed marginals)	3	0	2

^a“Grief improved” is defined as being one standard deviation above the mean change in grief. “Grief worsened” is defined as being one standard deviation below the mean change in grief.

^bAll respondents gave the same response; therefore, we were unable to calculate a kappa.