Table 1.
Characteristics of the study participants (N=132).
| Characteristic | Whole cohort | Preferred virtual communication mode | Location of confinement | |||||
|
|
(N=132) | Telephone call (n=73) | Video call (n=59) | P valuea | Geriatric acute care unit (n=105) | Long-term care and nursing home (n=27) | P valuea | |
| Sociodemographic data | ||||||||
|
|
Age (years), mean (SD) | 88.2 (6.2) | 88.2 (5.7) | 88.2 (6.7) | .97 | 88.8 (5.4) | 85.8 (8.1) | .08 |
|
|
Female gender, n (%) | 78 (59.1) | 39 (53.4) | 39 (66.1) | .16 | 57 (54.3) | 21 (77.8) | .03 |
| Communication with relatives, n (%) | ||||||||
|
|
Capability of independently establishing communicationb | 25 (19.1) | 22 (30.1) | 3 (5.2) | <.001 | 24 (22.8) | 1 (3.8) | .03 |
|
|
Choice of telephone call | 73 (55.3) | N/Ac | N/A | N/A | 61 (58.1) | 12 (44.4) | .28 |
|
|
High degree of satisfaction (Likert scale score ≥5/6)d | 93 (87.7) | 46 (86.8) | 47 (88.7) | >.99 | 73 (92.4) | 20 (74.1) | .02 |
aComparisons based on chi-square test or exact Fisher test for qualitative variables and Student t test or Mann-Whitney U test for quantitative variables, as appropriate.
bData missing for 1 participant in the long-term care and nursing home.
cN/A: not applicable.
dData missing for 26 participants in the geriatric acute care unit.