Evaluation of a hospice program: effects on terminally ill patients and their families.
Hospice care in the United States has grown rapidly since its introduction here from England in the mid-1970s. Surprisingly little evaluation of services has been made public, particularly with regard not merely to demographics but also the actual effect of hospice caregiving on patients and families. This article describes an attempt to identify the life dimensions that hospice addresses and the levels of discomfort or well-being of patients and families achieved in a hospice home care program. After assessing the changes in medical, psychosocial, and spiritual status for each of a group of hospice home care patients, the trend toward greater wellbeing of patients in the program can be delineated.
D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005190:Family; D006738:Hospices / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States