Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan

Abstract Background Numerous studies have pointed out the benefits of family meetings, but it is unclear who uses family meetings and what the effects are on use of the end-of-life care. Aim The purposes of this study were to explore which characteristics are associated with the use of the family me...

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Main Authors: Tsung-Hsien Yu, Chung-Jen Wei, Wei-Wen Wu, Frank Leigh Lu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-12-01
Series:BMC Palliative Care
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-024-01613-1
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author Tsung-Hsien Yu
Chung-Jen Wei
Wei-Wen Wu
Frank Leigh Lu
author_facet Tsung-Hsien Yu
Chung-Jen Wei
Wei-Wen Wu
Frank Leigh Lu
author_sort Tsung-Hsien Yu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Numerous studies have pointed out the benefits of family meetings, but it is unclear who uses family meetings and what the effects are on use of the end-of-life care. Aim The purposes of this study were to explore which characteristics are associated with the use of the family meeting and what effects the family meeting has on end-of-life care. Design A retrospective observational study using 2012–2017 data from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance claims database, cancer registry, and death registry. Setting/participants People who died between 2013 and 2017 in Taiwan as the study population. The deceased people whose information on gender, marital status, or insured classification that was unknown were excluded from this study. Results A total of 792,947 people were included. All demographic characteristics were associated with the use of family meetings, and all demographic characteristics (except for gender and residence area) and hospital characteristics were associated with the initiation time of family meetings. We also found use of family meetings increased the use of hospice care (OR:4.949) and decreased the use of CPR (OR:0.208) at the end of life, initiation time was also associated with the hospice and CPR, but the effects were varied. Conclusion This study demonstrated that family meetings affected the care at end-of-life. Although the utilization of family meeting was increased by year, but also variation still existed among demographic and health characteristics, how to promote it is the next concern in the future.
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spelling doaj-art-8740094a66444791ab06b2a4e75ff3a12025-08-20T01:57:12ZengBMCBMC Palliative Care1472-684X2024-12-0123111110.1186/s12904-024-01613-1Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in TaiwanTsung-Hsien Yu0Chung-Jen Wei1Wei-Wen Wu2Frank Leigh Lu3Department of Health Care Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health SciencesDepartment of Public Health, Fu-Jen Catholic UniversitySchool of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan UniversityDepartment of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Children’s HospitalAbstract Background Numerous studies have pointed out the benefits of family meetings, but it is unclear who uses family meetings and what the effects are on use of the end-of-life care. Aim The purposes of this study were to explore which characteristics are associated with the use of the family meeting and what effects the family meeting has on end-of-life care. Design A retrospective observational study using 2012–2017 data from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance claims database, cancer registry, and death registry. Setting/participants People who died between 2013 and 2017 in Taiwan as the study population. The deceased people whose information on gender, marital status, or insured classification that was unknown were excluded from this study. Results A total of 792,947 people were included. All demographic characteristics were associated with the use of family meetings, and all demographic characteristics (except for gender and residence area) and hospital characteristics were associated with the initiation time of family meetings. We also found use of family meetings increased the use of hospice care (OR:4.949) and decreased the use of CPR (OR:0.208) at the end of life, initiation time was also associated with the hospice and CPR, but the effects were varied. Conclusion This study demonstrated that family meetings affected the care at end-of-life. Although the utilization of family meeting was increased by year, but also variation still existed among demographic and health characteristics, how to promote it is the next concern in the future.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-024-01613-1Family meetingPalliative careType of end-of-life careInitiation time
spellingShingle Tsung-Hsien Yu
Chung-Jen Wei
Wei-Wen Wu
Frank Leigh Lu
Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan
BMC Palliative Care
Family meeting
Palliative care
Type of end-of-life care
Initiation time
title Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan
title_full Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan
title_fullStr Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan
title_full_unstemmed Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan
title_short Does the role of family meetings important at the end-of-life? A retrospective national study in Taiwan
title_sort does the role of family meetings important at the end of life a retrospective national study in taiwan
topic Family meeting
Palliative care
Type of end-of-life care
Initiation time
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-024-01613-1
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AT weiwenwu doestheroleoffamilymeetingsimportantattheendoflifearetrospectivenationalstudyintaiwan
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