A comparison of patients dying at home and patients dying at a hospice: sociodemographic factors and caregivers' experiences.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there were any differences between patients who died at home and patients who died at a hospice, that is, sociodemographic variables, the family caregivers' experiences of burden, and their opinion of reasons for hospice care.

Methods: The study comprises a consecutive sample of family caregivers to adult patients: (I) who were cared for by the advanced palliative home care team (APHCT) and died at home, (II) who were cared for by the APHCT and died at the Hospice, (III) who were cared for and died at the Hospice in Uppsala during a period of one year. A questionnaire was mailed to caregivers and the medical records of all the patients were analyzed.

Evaluation of advanced home care (AHC). The next-of-kin's experiences.

This project studied next-of-kin's experiences of advanced home care (AHC) during the palliative care and death of a family member. The aim of the study was to evaluate how next-of-kin experienced information provided, care, symptom relief, and care-giving burden. A self-questionnaire with 24 questions was sent to all next-of-kin (n=82) who had had a family member cared for at home during one year.