Table 1.
Characteristics of the study sample at the onset of specialist palliative care
|
Entire sample (N = 361) |
Home-based SPC (N = 238) |
Inpatient SPC (N = 123) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | n | % | p | ||
| Sociodemographic factors | ||||||||
| Age (M, SD) | 69.5 (12.5) | 71.5 (10.9) | 65.6 (14.4) | < .001 | ||||
| Gender | Female | 178 | 49.4 | 119 | 50.2 | 64 | 52.0 | .739 |
| Male | 182 | 50.6 | 118 | 49.8 | 59 | 58.0 | ||
| Religious confession | Yes | 202 | 57.7 | 126 | 55.3 | 76 | 62.3 | .204 |
| Family status | Single | 67 | 18.6 | 37 | 15.6 | 30 | 24.4 | .104 |
| Married or life partnership | 178 | 49.4 | 119 | 50.2 | 59 | 48.0 | ||
| Divorced or widowed | 115 | 31.9 | 81 | 34.2 | 34 | 27.6 | ||
| Have children | Yes | 258 | 71.9 | 170 | 71.7 | 88 | 72.1 | .936 |
| Living environment | Living alone | 119 | 33.5 | 81 | 34.9 | 38 | 30.9 | .445 |
| Living in the same household or near the family | 236 | 66.5 | 151 | 65.1 | 85 | 69.1 | ||
| School educationa | Low (≤ 9 years) | 143 | 40.5 | 96 | 41.6 | 47 | 38.5 | .679 |
| Intermediate (10 years) | 99 | 28.0 | 66 | 28.6 | 33 | 27.0 | ||
| High (12–13 years) | 111 | 31.4 | 69 | 29.9 | 42 | 34.4 | ||
| Disease-/care-related factors | ||||||||
| Primary disease | Gastrointestinal cancer | 83 | 23.0 | 45 | 18.9 | 28 | 30.9 | .058 |
| Cancer of the respiratory system | 66 | 18.3 | 50 | 21.0 | 16 | 13.0 | ||
| Urogenital and breast cancer | 115 | 31.9 | 78 | 32.8 | 37 | 30.1 | ||
| Other malignancies | 63 | 17.5 | 40 | 16.8 | 23 | 18.7 | ||
| Not malignant | 34 | 9.4 | 25 | 10.5 | 9 | 7.3 | ||
| Physical symptom count (0–21) (M, SD) | 10.3 (3.6) | 10.1 (3.7) | 10.7 (3.3) | .137 | ||||
| Nursing situation before the onset of SPCb | No nursing | 70 | 20.3 | 37 | 16.4 | 33 | 27.7 | .054 |
| By relatives only | 126 | 36.6 | 83 | 36.9 | 43 | 36.1 | ||
| Nursing service only | 101 | 29.4 | 74 | 32.9 | 27 | 22.7 | ||
| Nursing service and relatives | 47 | 13.7 | 31 | 13.8 | 16 | 13.4 | ||
| Advanced directives – living will | Yes | 244 | 67.6 | 161 | 67.6 | 73 | 67.5 | .974 |
| Advanced directives – healthcare proxy | Yes | 231 | 64.0 | 156 | 65.5 | 75 | 61.0 | .391 |
| Psychological factors | ||||||||
| Distress level (DT, 0-10) (M, SD) | 7.2 (2.2) | 7.1 (2.1) | 7.3 (2.2) | .563 | ||||
| Anxiety symptom level (GAD-2, 0–6) (M, SD) | 2.4 (2.0) | 2.5 (2.0) | 2.1 (2.0) | .045 | ||||
| Depressive symptom level (PHQ-2, 0–6) (M, SD) | 3.0 (2.0) | 3.0 (1.9) | 3.0 (2.1) | .954 | ||||
Abbreviations: DT Distress Thermometer, GAD-7 Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item Scale, M mean; p probability of type I error (chi-square-test for ordinal variables, two-sample t-test for continuous variables), PHQ-2 Patient Health Questionnaire – 2-item Depression Module, SD standard deviation, SPC specialist palliative care
Significant results are marked in bold
aLow: secondary general school-leaving certificate (leading to 3-year apprenticeship or to secondary vocational schools) or less, intermediate: intermediate school-leaving certificate (leading to 2–3 year apprenticeship, to secondary vocational, general schools or attaining a high school diploma, high: university/college entrance qualification; bNeed for informal and/or institutional care prior to being referred to SPC