Choosing care homes as the least preferred place to die: a cross-national survey of public preferences in seven European countries.
BACKGROUND
Care homes are increasingly becoming places where people spend the final stages of their lives and eventually die. This trend is expected to continue due to population ageing, yet little is known about public preferences regarding this setting. As part of a larger study examining preferences and priorities for end of life care, we investigated the extent to which care homes are chosen as the least preferred place of death, and the factors associated with this negative preference.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey among 9,344 adults from random private households in England, Flanders, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. We asked participants where they would least prefer to die in a situation of serious illness with less than one year to live. Multivariate binary logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with choosing care homes as the least preferred place of death in each country.


RESULTS
Care homes were the most frequently mentioned least preferred place of death in the Netherlands (41.5%), Italy and Spain (both 36.7%) and the second most frequent in England (28.0%), Portugal (25.8%), Germany (23.7%) and Flanders (18.9%). Only two factors had a similar and significant effect on the least preferred place of death in more than one country. In Germany and the Netherlands those doing housework were less likely to choose care homes as their least preferred place (AOR 0.72; 95% CI:0.54-0.96 and AOR 0.68; 95% CI:0.52-0.90 respectively), while those born in the country where the survey took place were more likely to choose care homes (AOR 1.77; 95% CI:1.05-2.99 and AOR 1.74; 95% CI:1.03-2.95 respectively). Experiences of serious illness, death and dying were not associated with the preference.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest it might be difficult to promote care homes as a good place to die. This is an urgent research area in order to meet needs and preferences of a growing number of older people with chronic, debilitating conditions across Europe. From a research perspective and in order to allow people to be cared for and die where they wish, our findings highlight the need to build more in depth evidence on reasons underlying this negative preference.
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. natalia.calanzani@ed.ac.uk.|Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Doorway 1, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK. natalia.calanzani@ed.ac.uk.
Natalia
N
Calanzani
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. katrien.moens@kcl.ac.uk.
Katrien
K
Moens
End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090, Brussels, Belgium. Joachim.Cohen@vub.ac.be.
Joachim
J
Cohen
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. irene.higginson@kcl.ac.uk.
Irene J
IJ
Higginson
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. richard.harding@kcl.ac.uk.
Richard
R
Harding
End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090, Brussels, Belgium. l.deliens@vumc.nl.|VU University Medical Center, EMGO Institute for Health & Care Research, Palliative Care Center of Expertise and Department of Public & Occupational Health, P.O. Box 7057, 1007, MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. l.deliens@vumc.nl.
Luc
L
Deliens
Fondazione Lino Maestroni - ONLUS, Istituto di Ricerca in Medicina Palliativa, Via Palestro, 1, 26100, Cremona, Italy. f.toscani@alice.it.
Franco
F
Toscani
Centre for Health Studies and Research (CEISUC), Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av Dias da Silva 165, 3004-512, Coimbra, Portugal. pedrof@fe.uc.pt.
Pedro L
PL
Ferreira
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. Claudia.Bausewein@med.uni-muenchen.de.|Department of Palliative Medicine, Munich University Hospital, Campus Großhadern, Marchioninistr, 15, Munich, Germany. Claudia.Bausewein@med.uni-muenchen.de.
Claudia
C
Bausewein
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. barbara.daveson@kcl.ac.uk.
Barbara A
BA
Daveson
Centre for Social Science and Global Health, University of Amsterdam, O.Z. Achterburgwal 185, 1012, DK, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. mhgysels@gmail.com.|Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB - Hospital Clínic - Universitat de Barcelona), Rosselló 132, SA 1ª, Barcelona, 08036, Spain. mhgysels@gmail.com.
Marjolein
M
Gysels
University Antwerp Belgium, Campus Drie Eiken, D.R.307, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. lucas.ceulemans@ua.ac.be.
Lucas
L
Ceulemans
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, Cicely Saunders Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9PJ, UK. barbara.gomes@kcl.ac.uk.
Barbara
B
Gomes
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data