Background
Methods
Translation process, pretesting and questionnaire adaption
Item CODE™ | Short Description | Verbal Anchors and Rating Scale |
---|---|---|
There was enough help available to meet his/her personal care needs, such as washing, personal hygiene and toileting needs. | Nursing care- personal care needs | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
There was enough help with nursing care, such as giving medicines and helping him/her find a comfortable position in bed. | Nursing care – medicines and comfortable position | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
The bed area and surrounding environment was comfortable for him/her. | Whether the bed area was comfortable | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
The bed area and surrounding environment had adequate privacy for him/her. | Whether the bed area had adequate privacy | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
In your opinion, how clean was the ward area that s/he was in? a | Whether ward was clean | 0 = Not at all clean 2 = Fairly clean 4 = Very clean |
Did you have confidence and trust in the nurses who were caring for him/her? | Confidence and trust in nurses | 0 = No, not in any of the nurses 2 = Yes, in some of them 4 = Yes, in all of them |
Did you have confidence and trust in the doctors who were caring for him/her? | Confidence and trust in doctors | 0 = No, not in any of the doctors 2 = Yes, in some of them 4 = Yes, in all of them |
The nurses had time to listen and discuss his/her condition with me. | Time of nurses to listen and discuss the patients’ condition | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
The doctors had time to listen and discuss his/her condition with me. | Time of doctors to listen and discuss the patient’s condition | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
In your opinion, during the last 2 days, did s/he appear to be in pain? | Whether patient had pain | 0 = Yes, all of the time 2 = Yes, some of the time 4 = No |
In your view, did the doctors and nurses do enough to help relieve the pain? | Whether HCT did all they could to relieve pain | 0 = No, not at all 2 = Yes, some of the time 4 = Yes, all of the time 4 = Not applicable, s/he was not in pain |
In your opinion, during the last 2 days, did s/he appear to be restless? | Whether patient was restless | 0 = Yes, all of the time 2 = Yes, some of the time 4 = No |
In your opinion, did the doctors and nurses do enough to help relieve the restlessness? | Whether HCT did all they could to relieve restlessness | 0 = No, not at all 2 = Yes, some of the time 4 = Yes, all of the time 4 = Not applicable, s/he was not restless |
In your opinion, during the last 2 days, did s/he appear to have a ‘noisy rattle’ to his/her breathing? | Whether patient had retained respiratory tract secretions | 0 = Yes, all of the time 2 = Yes, some of the time 4 = No |
In your view, did the doctors and nurses do enough to help relieve the ‘noisy rattle’ to his/her breathing? | Whether HCT did all they could to control respiratory tract secretions | 0 = No, not at all 2 = Yes, some of the time 4 = Yes, all of the time 4 = Not applicable, s/he had no noisy rattle |
During the last 2 days, how involved were you with the decisions about his/her care and treatment? | Involvement in decision-making | 0 = Not involved 2 = Fairly involved 4 = Very involved |
Did any of the healthcare team discuss with you whether giving fluids through a ‘drip’ would be appropriate in the last 2 days of life? | Whether discussion of giving fluids through a ‘drip’ took place | 0 = No 4 = Yes |
Would a discussion about the appropriateness of giving fluids through a ‘drip’ in the last 2 days of life have been helpful? | Whether discussion giving fluids through a ‘drip’ would have been helpful | 0 = Yes 4 = No 4 = Not applicable, we had these type of discussions |
Did the healthcare team explain his/her condition and/or treatment in a way you found easy or difficult to understand? | Difficulty of explanations of the patient’s condition | 0 = They did not explain his/her condition or treatment to me 1 = Very difficult 2 = Fairly difficult 3 = Fairly easy 4 = Very easy |
How would you assess the overall level of emotional support given to you by the healthcare team? | Emotional support to next-of-kin | 0 = Poor 1 = Fair 3 = Good 4 = Excellent |
Overall, his/her religious or spiritual needs were met by the healthcare team. | Whether HCT met overall religious spiritual needs of patient | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
Overall, my religious or spiritual needs were met by the healthcare team. | Whether HCT met overall religious spiritual needs of next-of-kin | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
Before s/he died, were you told s/he was likely to die soon? | Information about the soon death of the patient | 0 = No 4 = Yes |
Did a member of the healthcare team talk to you about what to expect when s/he was dying (e.g. symptoms that may arise)? | Information about what to expect during the dying process of the patient | 0 = No 4 = Yes |
Would a discussion about what to expect when s/he was dying have been helpful? | Whether a discussion about what to expect during the dying process would have been helpful | 0 = No 4 = Yes 4 = Not applicable, we had these types of discussions |
In your opinion did s/he die in the right place? a | Whether patient died in the right place | 0 = No, it was not the right place 2 = Not sure 4 = Yes, it was the right place |
I was given enough help and support by the healthcare team at the actual time of his/her death | Support at actual time of death | 0 = strongly disagree 1 = disagree 2 = neither agree nor disagree 3 = agree 4 = strongly agree |
After s/he had died, did individuals from the healthcare team deal with you in a sensitive manner? | Sensitivity of HCT after death | 0 = No 4 = Yes |
Overall Impression | ||
How much of the time was s/he treated with respect and dignity in the last 2 days of life by doctors? | Whether patient was treated with respect and dignity by doctors | 0 = Never 1 = Some of the time 3 = Most of the time 4 = Always |
How much of the time was s/he treated with respect and dignity in the last 2 days of life by nurses? | Whether patient was treated with respect and dignity by nurses | 0 = Never 1 = Some of the time 3 = Most of the time 4 = Always |
Overall, in your opinion, were you adequately supported during his/her last 2 days of life? | Whether next-of-kin was adequately supported | 0 = No 4 = Yes |
How likely are you to recommend our ward to friends and family? | Whether next-of-kind would recommend ward to family/friends | 0 = Extremely unlikely 1 = Unlikely 2 = Neither likely nor unlikely 3 = Likely 4 = Extremely likely |
Study population and data collection
Description of questionnaires
CODE-GER items and Total-score
Data analysis
Psychometric properties
Inclusion of items
Reliability
Validity
Items of overall impression
Recruitment and demographic and disease-related information
Results
Study population and data collection
Characteristics
Main sample (N = 237) | Interrater (N = 38) | T2 (N = 55) | |
---|---|---|---|
Number (%) | Number (%) | Number (%) | |
Gender | |||
Female | 153 (65) | 27 (71) | 36 (66) |
Male | 84 (35) | 11 (29) | 19 (34) |
Age | |||
20–29 | 6 (3) | 4 (11) | 2 (4) |
30–39 | 20 (8) | – | 5 (9) |
40–49 | 34 (14) | 10 (26) | 10 (18) |
50–59 | 69 (29) | 15 (40) | 17 (31) |
60–69 | 56 (24) | 5 (13) | 15 (27) |
70–79 | 33 (14) | 2 (5) | 5 (9) |
80+ | 19 (8) | 2 (5) | 1 (2) |
Relation to patient | |||
Husband / Wife / Partner | 101 (43) | 11 (30) | 21 (38) |
Son / Daughter | 96 (41) | 15 (39) | 23 (42) |
Brother / Sister | 13 (6) | 4 (10) | 3 (5) |
Son-in-law / Daughter-in-law | 4 (2) | 6 (16) | 2 (4) |
Parent | 9 (3) | – | 1 (2) |
Friend | 3 (1) | – | – |
Other | 11 (4) | 2 (5) | 5 (9) |
Nationality | |||
Germany | 213 (90) | 35 (92) | 52 (94) |
Austria | 1 (0.3) | – | – |
Croatia | 1 (0.3) | – | – |
Greece | 1 (0.3) | – | – |
Italy | 2 (1) | – | – |
Missing | 19 (8) | 3 (8) | 3 (6) |
Religion | |||
Roman Catholic | 101 (43) | 18 (47) | 22 (40) |
Protestant | 89 (38) | 12 (32) | 24 (44) |
Muslim | – | – | – |
None | 43 (18) | 6 (16) | 8 (14) |
New apostolic | 2 (0.5) | 1 (2.5) | 1 (2) |
Buddhist | – | 1 (2.5) | – |
Missing | 2 (0.5) | – | – |
Main diagnosis of patient assessed by relativea | |||
Cancer | 134 (57) | 24 (63) | 35 (64) |
Kidney disease | 48 (20) | 8 (21) | 6 (11) |
Heart failure | 41 (17) | 6 (16) | 4 (7) |
Stroke | 33 (14) | 5 (13) | 7 (13) |
COPD | 19 (8) | 3 (8) | 4 (7) |
Dementia | 19 (8) | 6 (16) | 7 (13) |
Motor neurone disease | 2 (1) | – | – |
Don’t know | 5 (2) | – | 1 (2) |
Something else | 51 (22) | 12 (32) | 13 (24) |
Ward on which patient had died | |||
Palliative Care Unit | 120 (51) | 24 (64) | 32 (58) |
Internal medicine and neurology | 60 (25) | 7 (18) | 10 (18) |
Intensive care unit | 57 (24) | 7 (18) | 13 (24) |
Missing values
Psychometric properties
Factor Loadings | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subcales and short description of items | M | SD | Cronbachs’Alpha if item deleted per scale | Item Scale Correlation | F 1 | F2 | F 3 | F 4 | F 5 | F 6 | F 7 |
1 Support and time of doctors and nurses α = 0.85; 14.6% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Nursing care – medicines and comfortable position | 3.8 | 0.6 | 0.82 | 0.68 | 0.73 | ||||||
Nursing care- personal care needs | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0.82 | 0.68 | 0.72 | ||||||
Confidence and trust in doctors | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.83 | 0.57 | 0.67 | ||||||
Time of doctors to listen and discuss the patient’s condition | 3.5 | 0.9 | 0.82 | 0.69 | 0.66 | ||||||
Whether HCT did all they could to relieve pain | 3.9 | 0.5 | 0.84 | 0.54 | 0.62 | ||||||
Whether HCT did all they could to control respiratory tract secretions | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.85 | 0.41 | 0.59 | ||||||
Confidence and trust in nurses | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.84 | 0.51 | 0.56 | ||||||
Whether HCT did all they could to relieve restlessness | 3.6 | 0.9 | 0.83 | 0.56 | 0.47 | ||||||
Time of nurses to listen and discuss the patients’ condition | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.83 | 0.57 | 0.40 | 0.48 | |||||
2 Spiritual and emotional support α = 0.82; 10.6% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Whether HCT met overall religious spiritual needs for patient | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.69 | 0.82 | 0.84 | ||||||
Whether HCT met overall religious spiritual needs for next-of-kin | 3.3 | 1.1 | 0.72 | 0.77 | 0.81 | ||||||
Emotional support to next-of-kin | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.80 | 0.60 | 0.58 | ||||||
Whether ward was cleana | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.86 | 0.43 | 0.50 | ||||||
3 Information and decision-making α = 0.61; 8.5% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Difficulty of explanations of the patient’s condition | 3.1 | 1.0 | 0.50 | 0.54 | 0.70 | ||||||
Involvement in decision-making | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.43 | 0.55 | 0.66 | ||||||
Whether discussion giving fluids through a ‘drip’ would have been helpful | 3.2 | 1.6 | 0.62 | 0.28 | 0.62 | ||||||
Whether discussion of giving fluids through a ‘drip’ took place | 1.8 | 2.0 | 0.62 | 0.34 | 0.52 | 0.41 | |||||
4 Environment α = 0.67; 8.2% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Whether the bed area had adequate privacy | 3.6 | 0.8 | 0.37 | 0.65 | 0.85 | ||||||
Whether the bed area was comfortable | 3.5 | 0.9 | 0.54 | 0.51 | 0.78 | ||||||
Whether patient died in the right placea | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.81 | 0.34 | 0.50 | ||||||
5 Information about dying process α = 0.68; 7.6% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Whether a discussion about what to expect during the dying process would have been helpful | 2.9 | 1.8 | 0.51 | 0.55 | 0.75 | ||||||
Information about what to expect during the dying process of the patient | 2.2 | 2.0 | 0.56 | 0.52 | 0.69 | ||||||
Information about the soon death of the patient | 3.4 | 1.4 | 0.66 | 0.44 | 0.65 | ||||||
6 Presence of symptoms α = 0.58; 6.5% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Whether patient was restless | 2.8 | 1.3 | 0.30 | 0.51 | 0.83 | ||||||
Whether patient had pain | 3.0 | 1.3 | 0.46 | 0.40 | 0.76 | ||||||
Whether patient had retained respiratory tract secretions | 2.7 | 1.4 | 0.65 | 0.28 | 0.42 | 0.47 | |||||
7 Support at actual time of death and afterwards α = 0.59; 5.7% Variance explained | |||||||||||
Support at actual time of death | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.43 | 0.76 | |||||||
Sensitivity of HCT after death | 3.9 | 0.8 | 0.43 | 0.38 | 0.44 |
Inclusion of items
Overall Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.86 | ||
---|---|---|
Subscales and short description of items | Cronbachs’Alpha if item deleted per scale | Item Scale Correlation |
1 Support and time of doctors and nurses α = 0.85; 14.6% Variance explained | ||
Nursing care - medicines and comfortable position | 0.82 | 0.68 |
Nursing care - personal care needs | 0.82 | 0.68 |
Confidence and trust with the doctors | 0.83 | 0.57 |
Time of doctors to listen and discuss the patient’s condition | 0.82 | 0.69 |
Whether HCT did all they could to relieve pain | 0.84 | 0.54 |
Whether HCT did all they could to control respiratory tract secretions | 0.85 | 0.41 |
Confidence and trust in nurses | 0.84 | 0.51 |
Whether HCT did all they could to relieve restlessness | 0.83 | 0.56 |
Time of nurses to listen and discuss the patients’ condition | 0.83 | 0.57 |
2 Spiritual and emotional support α = 0.86; 10.6% Variance explained | ||
Whether HCT met overall religious spiritual needs of patient | 0.74 | 0.82 |
Whether HCT met overall religious spiritual needs of next-of-kin | 0.75 | 0.80 |
Emotional support to next-of-kin | 0.87 | .62 |
3 Information and decision-making α = 0.61; 8.5% Variance explained | ||
Difficulty of explanations about the patient’s condition | 0.50 | 0.54 |
Involvement in decision-making | 0.43 | 0.55 |
Whether discussion giving fluids through a ‘drip’ would have been helpful | 0.62 | 0.28 |
Whether discussion of giving fluids through a ‘drip’ took place | 0.62 | 0.34 |
4 Environment α = 0.81; 8.2% Variance explained | ||
Whether the bed area had adequate privacy | 0.81 | 0.68 |
Whether the bed area was comfortable | 0.81 | 0.68 |
5 Information about dying process α = 0.68; 7.6% Variance explained | ||
Whether a discussion about what to expect during the dying process would have been helpful | 0.51 | 0.55 |
Information about what to expect during the dying process of the patient | 0.56 | 0.52 |
Information about the soon death of the patient | 0.66 | 0.44 |
6 Presence of symptoms α = 0.58; 6.5% Variance explained | ||
Whether patient was restless | 0.51 | 0.30 |
Whether patient had pain | 0.46 | 0.40 |
Whether patient had retained respiratory tract secretions | 0.62 | 0.26 |
7 Support at actual time of death and afterwards α = 0.59; 5.7% Variance explained | ||
Support at actual time of death | 0.43 | |
Sensitivity of HCT after death | 0.43 |
Reliability and validity
Correlation between Total-score, subscales and items of overall impressions
Subscales and Total-Score | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Total-Score | |||
Overall items; numbering corresponding to CODE-GER | N | |||||||||
27a [1] | Whether patient was treated with respect and dignity by doctors | 212 | 0.51** | 0.39** | 0.24** | 0.14* | 0.14* | 0.09 | 0,53** | 0.46** |
27b [1] | Whether patient was treated with respect and dignity by nurses | 223 | 0.49** | 0.35** | 0.14* | 0.17* | 0.22 | 0.16* | 0.23** | 0.36** |
28 [2] | Whether next-of-kin was adequately supported | 230 | 0.44** | 0.38** | 0.36** | 0.14* | 0.39** | −0.02 | 0.56** | 0.44** |
29 [1] | Whether next-of-kind would recommend ward to family/friends | 227 | 0.72** | 0.57** | 0.32** | 0.44** | 0.29** | 0.15* | 0.63** | 0.67** |
Difficulty of questionnaire, strain caused by assessment and time for filling out
N | M | SD | Range | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Time for filling out - Main Sample | 229 | 43.2 | 34.8 | 10–240 |
Time for filling out - Interrater | 38 | 34.9 | 22.6 | 10–120 |
Time for filling out - T2 | 55 | 27.8 | 18.7 | 8–90 |
Difficulty of the questionnaire - Main sample | 235 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0–10 |
Difficulty of the questionnaire - Interrater | 38 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0–8 |
Difficulty of the questionnaire - T2 | 54 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 0–10 |
Strain caused by assessment - Main sample | 235 | 4.1 | 3.2 | 0–10 |
Strain caused by assessment - Interrater | 38 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 0–10 |
Strain caused by assessment - T2 | 54 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 0–10 |