Charities & Community
Elderly Services
Club-funded survey reveals that community is acceptable place for end-of-life care
10/11/2016
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has been proactively responding to the challenges arising from the city’s ageing population trend, and “Building an age-friendly Hong Kong” is one of three strategic focus areas for the Club’s community contributions. For older patients facing terminal illnesses, end-of-life care (EoLC) provides both medical support and the emotional and psychological care they need to improve their quality of life during their final days.
To enhance public understanding of community EoLC, the Club’s Charities Trust donated HK$131 million last year to pioneer a three-year Jockey Club End-of-Life Community Care Project (JCECC), bringing together The University of Hong Kong and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, five NGOs and the public and private healthcare sectors in a cross-sector collaboration.
Under this project, various community-based EoLC services are being piloted, either in elderly homes or in patients’ own homes, aimed both at patients and their families. Staff training and public education programmes are also being organised, so that people can make informed choices about care options and face the end of their life calmly and with dignity.
Part of the initiative involves commissioning the Social Sciences Research Centre of HKU to conduct a community-wide survey on EoLC in Hong Kong, for the purpose of understanding the public’s knowledge, attitude and preferences with regard to community EoLC.
A random sampling telephone survey was conducted from January to March, covering 1,600 Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above. The study found that over 52% of participants felt comfortable talking about death while fewer than 10% felt uncomfortable, revealing that the public are generally prepared to discuss death and EoLC-related issues.
Some 84% of respondents believed that when facing the final journey of their life, they should be making their own EoLC decisions, rather than doctors, family members or others. Over 70% said they would have discussions with their families before making an EoLC decision and choosing their preferred place of death.
Regarding the place for receiving EoLC, most felt the community was an acceptable choice outside hospitals, with people opting to receive EoLC in social service agencies (72%), elderly/ nursing homes (72%) and homes (54%), while 23% said they hoped to die at home.
When asked what they felt to be important components of EoLC, most of the respondents mentioned counselling/psychological support and spiritual care. This shows that, to patients with terminal illnesses and their families, psychological care is seen as an important addition to medical care.
Ms Wong lives with her 89-year-old father who suffers from heart failure and early stage dementia, and has decided to receive EoLC at home. She quit her job a few years ago, bears the responsibility for taking care of her father and feels lonely sometimes. But things have improved since she began participating in the JCECC project four months ago. The ‘Cheering Practitioner’ volunteers trained by project partner St James’ Settlement have been conducting home visits to play chess with her father every week. Ms Wong said with the help of the volunteers she had the opportunity to go out and take a break, which really helped relieve pressure on her. She added that her father loves playing chess with the volunteers. Every time he was focused and happy, and now they had more topics to talk about.
The JCECC is expected to benefit over 1,400 terminally-ill patients over the next three years. For more details, please visit: http://www.JCECC.hk/.
