The Role of Hospice Tours in Promoting Hospice Enrollment: A Study of Taiwanese Family Members

Abstract

In Taiwan, hospice nurses often take family members of terminally ill patients on hospice ward tours and provide information on transfers. We conducted a study to investigate the tour’s effectiveness in encouraging family members to transfer their loved ones to hospice. We conceptualized our study framework based on the Andersen healthcare utilization model. The hospice nurses invited family members who participated in the tour to complete the survey to investigate the tour and hospice facilities’ influence on their willingness to transfer. A total of 87 participants responded to the study, with an average age of 48.84 ± 12.08 years. Most participants were women (78.16%) and the children of patients (55.17%). The results showed that the tour significantly increased willingness scores (before 4.46 ± 0.73, after 4.74 ± 0.58, p = .0036). Practical and activity-related facilities had the highest influence scores. However, binary logistic regression revealed that patients aged ≥65 years (odds ratio [OR]: 0.281, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.099, 0.797]) and higher influence scores for psychospiritual care features (OR: 0.182, 95% CI [0.040, 0.821]) negatively affected the change in willingness score, possibly due to family members’ anticipatory grief. Hospice tour guides should be able to identify, assess, and deal with this issue. Overall, hospice tours can effectively encourage transfer to the hospice ward, but addressing psychological barriers such as anticipatory grief is crucial for success.