Associations with the Japanese Population's Preferences for the Place of End-of-Life Care and Their Need for Receiving Health Care Services

Purpose: The aims of this study were to identify the associations with the Japanese population's preferences for the place of end-of-life care and their need for receiving health care services. Methods: A secondary analysis of a cross-sectional nationwide survey was conducted for 2000 randomly selected Japanese people aged 40-79 years. Results: A total of 1042 people (55%) responded. Regarding preferred place of care, we set the place within the choices of "Home" (preferred by 44% of respondents), "Acute Hospital" (15%), "Palliative Care Unit" (19%), "Public Nursing Home" (10%), and "Private Nursing Home" (2%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the people who preferred "Acute Hospital" tended to have the following need compared to those who preferred "Home," "Palliative Care Unit," or "Nursing Home": higher need for receiving end-of-life care not from its experienced professionals but from the same staff; higher need for using health care services in highly supported environment such as the need for being near health care staff whenever and for receiving treatment possibly until the end; and higher need for consulting nurses whenever. They had lower need for using home care services and daycare services and also lower need for instructing families about how to use insurance/public health services. Conclusions: The present findings may help to develop an effective end-of-life care system in Japan considering Japanese people's need for health care services. Also, the results of this study may underscore the importance of education on receiving home care services especially for the people who presently prefer the hospital for end-of-life care.