ArticleBMC palliative care2014
Choosing care homes as the least preferred place to die: a cross-national survey of public preferences in seven European countries.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Palliative Care Utilization Among Non-Western Migrants in Europe: A Systematic Review.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2022Pooled it
- Perceptions of end-of-life care quality among bereaved closest contacts of community-dwelling older Australians: a cross-sectional survey of the ASPREE cohort.Research square · 2026Article
- Older Danes' Preferences for Their Final Days: A Survey of 1499 Participants.Palliative medicine reports · 2025Article
- The ideal and the real: Patient and bereaved family caregiver perspectives on the significance of place of death.Death studies · 2024Article
- Portuguese Older Persons' Views about Living in a Nursing Home: Challenges to the Rehabilitation of the Image of LTC in Post-Pandemic Times.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Enhanced home palliative care could reduce emergency department visits due to non-organic dyspnea among cancer patients: a retrospective cohort study.BMC palliative care · 2021Article
- The quality of care of the dying in hospital-next-of-kin perspectives.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020Article
- Article
- The impact of population ageing on end-of-life care in Scotland: projections of place of death and recommendations for future service provision.BMC palliative care · 2019Article
- Striking a Balance: A Qualitative Study of Next of Kin Participation in the Care of Older Persons in Nursing Homes in Sweden.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- Social and clinical determinants of preferences and their achievement at the end of life: prospective cohort study of older adults receiving palliative care in three countries.BMC geriatrics · 2017Article
- Dying comfortably in very old age with or without dementia in different care settings - a representative "older old" population study.BMC geriatrics · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCare 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.
methodsWe 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.
resultsCare 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.
conclusionsOur 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.
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