Where they want to die: correlates of elderly persons' preferences for death site.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to characterize older people who prefer dying at home versus those who prefer dying elsewhere. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study that was conducted of 1138 elderly persons in Israel. The results showed that the vast majority of the respondents preferred to die in their homes. Those who preferred to die at home did not differ significantly in most sociodemographic characteristics from those who preferred to die elsewhere except for marital status, economic status, living arrangements, and place of residence. The preference for the death site showed that those who lived with somebody, had trust in the family, and had frequent social contacts preferred to die at home.