Table 3.

Themes and categories of terminal home care problems

Category	Explanation	Themes	Quotes
Medical aspects	Issues related to knowledge and application of medicine and to long‐term terminal home care	Variety of home care	“I don't have clear images of home care, although I can understand the content of home care” (Group 1, Female (F)).
		Depopulation of medical field	“The quality of home care may change because of the quality of the staff, which may lead to poor home care” (Group 3, Male (M)). “In my area, no physicians will be able to do home care” (Group 16, F)
		Concern about perceptions of neighbors	“Although my mother and family hope my mother's death takes place in our home, my relative told me why I should take my mother to the hospital and that I should take her to bigger hospitals” (Group 4, M).
		Anxiety about change in patient's condition	“When people are dying, what kinds of symptoms do they have? As I don't have experience, I cannot imagine the situations at all” (Group 7, F).
Care burden	Anxiety about the burden of terminal home care	Time burden	“I have to work and take care of my child. I might not have much time to care for my parents” (Group 9, F).
		Physical burden	“I know that I have to take care of my parents, but I feel that I am not that young, and I also have some diseases that require care. I may not be able to help my parents” (Group 20, F).
		Financial burden	“Both my wife and I work and struggle to survive. If I must pay for home care for my parents, we will end up in a bad financial position” (Group 8, M).
		Home problem	“I did not imagine this situation, so my house is not equipped for home care” (Group 2, M).
		Privacy	“In the past, we knew each other. But now, we don't even know much about our neighbors. Privacy may lead to less collaboration among people in communities” (Group 1, F).
Health care system	Issues related to social systems such as long‐term care insurance and social connection	Information resource	“I know the importance of home care, but I don't know where I can get information. I should know about information resources” (Group 11, M).
		Diversity of community	“Our community has many kinds of people, and they have different ideas, which has formed our culture. Some people don't like to accept others” (Group 6, F).”
		Lack of knowledge about medical systems and long‐term care	“I have never learned the system related to home care, and cannot learn it because of aging” (Group 4, M).
Patient problems	Issues related to patients’ decisions and their relationship with family	Rejection of care	“If my father would accept home care, I would be relieved. But he didn't like strangers coming into his house” (Group 1, F).
		Concern for caregivers	“I don't want to cause stress to my family, financially or physically. If I must accept help, I want to die as quickly as I can” (Group 22, F).
		Readiness for end‐of‐life care	“It is very difficult to discuss death with family because elderly people might think that we want them to die early” (Group 16, M).
		Relationship among family	“I don't know my parents’ ideas because we have not talked much with each other in a long time. We may not have a good relationship. So, I will be confused if I have to take care of them” (Group 12, F).