Evaluation of a home based hospice.

A home based hospice was evaluated by means of questionnaires filled out by surviving relatives of patients who had participated in the hospice program prior to their deaths. Respondents reported that the hospice was helpful in reducing the prevalence of pain, physical disabilities, and anxiety to the dying patient. It was even more helpful in reducing anxiety in relatives of the patient than in the patient himself. Participants approve of the concept of a person dying at home and all would recommend the program to others. Problems in the physician-patient relationship were identified. Although help with bereavement is generally regarded as an integral function of the hospice, respondents in this study reported that it was not an important area with which the hospice needed to concern itself.