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Where to die? That is the question: A study of cancer patients in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

Frida Barak ,
Sofia Livshits ,
Haana Kaufer ,
Ruth Netanel ,
Nava Siegelmann-Danieli ,
Yasmin Alkalay  and
Shulamith Kreitler
Frida Barak*
Affiliation:
Oncology Institute and Department of Social Services, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashqelon, Israel and Affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Sofia Livshits
Affiliation:
Oncology Institute and Department of Social Services, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashqelon, Israel and Affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Haana Kaufer
Affiliation:
Oncology Institute and Department of Social Services, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashqelon, Israel and Affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Ruth Netanel
Affiliation:
Oncology Institute and Department of Social Services, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashqelon, Israel and Affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Nava Siegelmann-Danieli
Affiliation:
Maccabi Healthcare Services, Oncology Service Line, Tel Aviv, Israel
Yasmin Alkalay
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Shulamith Kreitler
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel and Psychooncology Research Center, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel and Affiliated with Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Frida Barak, Director, Oncology Institute, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashqelon, Israel. E-mail: barakfrida@gmail.com; fridab@barzi.health.gov.il
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Abstract

Objective:

Most patients prefer to die at home, but barely 30% do so. This study examines the variables contributing to dying at home.

Methods:

The participants were 326 cancer patients, of both genders, with a mean age of 63.25 years, who died from 2000 to 2008 and were treated by the palliative care unit of the Barzilai Hospital. Some 65.7% died at home and 33.4% in a hospital. The data were extracted from patient files. The examined variables were demographic (e.g., age, gender, marital status, ethnic background, number of years in Israel until death), medical (e.g., age at diagnosis, diagnosis, nature of last treatment, patient received nursing care, patient given the care of a social worker, patient had care of a psychologist, family received care of a social worker, patient had a special caregiver), and sociological (e.g., having insurance, having worked in Israel, living alone or with family, living with one's children, living in self-owned or rented house, family members working).

Results:

The findings indicate that the chances of dying at home are higher if the patient is non-Ashkenazi, the family got social worker care, the patient lived in a self-owned house, the patient lived with his family, the family members worked, and the patient's stay in Israel since immigration was longer. Logistic regression showed that all the predictors together yielded a significant model accounting for 10.9–12.3% of the variance.

Significance of results:

The findings suggest that dying at home requires maintaining continued care for the patient and family in a community context.

Keywords

Dying at homeSocial worker careAshkenazi backgroundCancerPalliative care
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 165 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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