Preference of the place of death among people of pune.

AIM: Provision of end-of-life care requires that we have adequate information about the preferred place of death in the population. Since no such study is reported in India, this study was taken up in and around Pune, a large cosmopolitan city. SETTING AND DESIGN: A questionnaire was designed in three parts and distributed among the people above the age of 18 in and around Pune. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The questionnaire had three parts the first being a consent form, followed by one for collection of personal information and lastly questions specific to the subject matter. Filled forms were screened for inconsistencies, gaps of information and errors. RESULTS: The population survey was mixed, both urban and rural, men and women, educated and uneducated, young and old. Despite this heterogeneity, the results were consistent to the point that most of the people surveyed preferred home as the place of death. This preference cuts across all barriers, the only difference being that women had a stronger preference for home death compared to men. CONCLUSIONS: Helping people to die at their preferred place is a part of end-of-life care. Majority of people surveyed by us, prefer to die at home, where they are relatively more comfortable. Public and governmental policies should be directed toward facilitating home deaths.

Stress among Care Givers: The Impact of Nursing a Relative with Cancer.

AIMS: The aim of the present study is to assess the level and areas of stress among care givers nursing their loved ones suffering from cancer. SETTING AND DESIGN: An assessment of care givers' stress providing care to cancer patients at Cipla Palliative Care Center was conducted. The study involves data collection using a questionnaire and subsequent analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A close-ended questionnaire that had seven sections on different aspects of caregivers' stress was developed and administered to 137 participants and purpose of conducting the survey was explained to their understanding. Caregivers who were willing to participate were asked to read and/or explained the questions and requested to reply as per the scales given. Data was collected in the questionnaires and was quantitatively analyzed. RESULTS: The study results showed that overall stress level among caregivers is 5.18 ± 0.26 (on a scale of 0-10); of the total, nearly 62% of caregivers were ready to ask for professional help from nurses, medical social workers and counselors to cope up with their stress. CONCLUSION: Stress among caregivers ultimately affects quality of care that is being provided to the patient. This is also because they are unprepared to provide care, have inadequate knowledge about care giving along with financial burden, physical and emotional stress. Thus interventions are needed to help caregivers to strengthen their confidence in giving care and come out with better quality of care.