The study will follow the observational survey design. Data will be collected from three hospitals: AUBMC, St. George, and AinWezein. Older adults who are distressed, cognitively challenged, or receiving end-of-life care will be excluded from participation. In order to standardize screening for inclusion eligibility, distress will be assessed via the HADS tool, cognition via the MMSE, and palliative care needs via the NECPAL CCOMS-ICO tool. A convenience sample of hospitalized patients age 65 and above will be recruited to the study through the three key informant geriatricians of the three participating hospitals. Face-to-face interviews will be carried out on eligible, screened participants using the Quality of Palliative Care Questionnaire-Adult (QPCQ-A) assembled using several instruments measuring quality of life, symptom prevalence and management, quality of care, and functional ability.
The study will target Lebanese older adult patients living in Lebanon and in need of palliative care during the data collection period.
A convenience sample of 200 older adults will be recruited to the study through the three key informant geriatricians of the three hospitals namely Dr. Hajjar (AUBMC), Dr. Karam (St. George), and Dr. Ghusn (AinWezein).
The collaborating geriatricians at the three hospitals have been contacted and have approved approaching their patients to conduct the face-to-face interviews.
Procedure Face-to-Face Interview: The interviewer will be a holder of a BSN, MSN, or MD degree and familiar with the vulnerable elderly population. Interviewers will make sure to let the person in charge know that the face to face interview will have to take place in a private environment. Preference of the gender of the interviewer will be inquired since some areas in Lebanon sitting alone with someone from the opposite gender could be unacceptable. Only the interviewer and interviewee will be present in the room where the interview is taking place for confidentiality purposes. The interviewer will read to the participant the prepared consent form and ask him/her to sign it. If the participant cannot sign, his/her next of kin will do so on the participant’s behalf. Otherwise, the participant’s fingerprint may be taken as a form of signature. It is important to note that consent will be taken for all potential participants prior to screening for eligibility for consideration of inclusion in the study (via the NECPAL, MMSE, and HADS tools), in order to commence with the QoL questionnaire with eligible participants.
The definition of an older adult for this study is any person whose age is 65 years and above hospitalized and in need for palliative care.
Older adults who are distressed, cognitively challenged, or receiving end-of-life care will be excluded from participation. In order to standardize screening for inclusion eligibility, distress will be assessed via the HADS tool, cognition via the MMSE, and palliative care needs via the NECPAL CCOMS-ICO tool.