Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH, USA.
Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2024 Jun;41(7):747-753. doi: 10.1177/10499091231204990. Epub 2023 Sep 26.
Veterans make up a quarter of the deaths in the United States (US). However, little is known about their knowledge and preferences about end-of-life care and pain management. Given this, we were interested in how veterans' military experiences impact their end-of-life experiences and attitudes. Our exploratory study addressed the knowledge and perceptions of hospice and pain management at the end of life. The quantitative aspect was a survey using descriptive statistics that used a small (n = 14) subgroup from a randomly selected sample in the continental US. A small population-based sample (N = 123) used a blended sampling frame of randomly selected validated cell phone and landline numbers. The qualitative aspect examined eight targeted interviews of urban dwelling older veterans over age 60 residing in Northeast Ohio to get a deeper understanding of their knowledge and attitudes toward end-of-life care. Our findings suggest that veterans did not understand the difference between hospice and palliative care and expressed concerns regarding pain medication use at the end of life. Future research examining the concept of stoicism at the end of life among veterans and educational interventions are needed.
退役军人占美国（US）死亡人数的四分之一。然而，人们对他们在临终关怀和疼痛管理方面的知识和偏好知之甚少。有鉴于此，我们很想了解退役军人的军旅经历如何影响他们的临终体验和态度。我们的探索性研究探讨了临终关怀和疼痛管理的知识和认知。定量方面是一项使用描述性统计的调查，该调查使用了来自美国大陆随机选择样本中的一个小（n=14）亚组。一项基于小群体的样本（N=123）使用了随机选择的经过验证的手机和固定电话号码的混合抽样框架。定性方面对居住在俄亥俄州东北部的 60 岁以上的城市老年退役军人进行了八次有针对性的访谈，以更深入地了解他们对临终关怀的知识和态度。我们的研究结果表明，退役军人并不理解临终关怀和姑息治疗之间的区别，并对临终时使用止痛药表示担忧。需要开展未来研究，探讨退役军人临终时坚忍不拔的概念以及教育干预措施。
