Perceived Success in Addressing End-of-Life Care Needs of Low-Income Elders and Their Families: What Has Family Conflict Got to Do With It?

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of perceived success in addressing the end-of-life care needs of low-income older adults and their family members. Perceived success is defined as the clinician’s subjective assessment of the extent to which end-of-life care needs of the patient and family have been met by the interdisciplinary team. The results are drawn from a larger longitudinal multimethod case study designed to understand how end-of-life care is provided to a diverse group of frail elders in an innovative, fully “integrated,” managed care program. Data were generated from 120 social work surveys detailing care experiences and outcomes particular to 120 elder deaths. Significant predictors of perceived success for addressing patient needs included patient care needs (β = 0.17, P ≤ 0.05), race (β = 0.19, P ≤ 0.05), patient preferences elicited (β = 0.29, P ≤ 0.01) and honored (β = 0.20, P ≤ 0.05), and family conflict (β = −0.24, P ≤ 0.01). Significant predictors of perceived success for addressing family needs included family care needs (β = 0.30, P ≤ 0.001), team and administrative resources (β = 0.19, P ≤ 0.01), patient preferences honored (β = 0.16, P ≤ 0.05), quality of relationship with patient (β = 0.27, P ≤ 0.001) and family (β = 0.23, P ≤ 0.01), and family conflict (β = −0.31, P ≤ 0.001). This study provides preliminary evidence of differential correlates and predictors of perceived success for addressing patient and family needs, highlighting the detrimental influence of family conflict. Future research is needed to better understand the kinds of assessment and intervention protocols that might prevent or ameliorate conflict and enhance structures and process-of-care variables to facilitate more successful outcomes.