Researchers find people tend to prefer personalized, home-based end-of-life care services after previous experiences with home health care

Home health care use in the last three years of a patient’s life is associated with a higher likelihood of hospice care at the end of life, according to a Rutgers Health study.

Researchers, whose findings are published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, examined the home health care and hospice care experiences of more than 2 million people.

“In addition to benefits for the patient, hospice care also provides resources and support to help family caregivers cope with the physical, emotional, and practical challenges of caring for a loved one at the end of life,” said Olga Jarrín (PhD, RN, FAAN), senior author of the study, the Hunterdon Professor of Nursing Research at the Rutgers School of Nursing and director of the Community Health and Aging Outcomes Laboratory within the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research.