ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study examined whether cancer patients who received home care lived in the places they and their families preferred, and whether their preferences changed while receiving home care.Methods: We conducted a medical record survey of 111 cancer patients who received home care provided by a clinic in Japan, and examined the patients' and their families' preferred places to live in the case of their condition deteriorate (the patients and their families were asked when they began to receive home care, and whenever their and their families' conditions changed), and the actual places where the patients lived out their lives.Results: Among those who preferred home at the beginning of receiving home care, 95.6% of patients and 96.8% of families preferred home in the last survey period. Of those who did not prefer home at the beginning, 87.9% of patients and 84.8% of families preferred home by the last survey period. For 97.4% of patients and 97.2% of families, the actual places where the patients lived out their lives were consistent with their preferred places.Conclusion: We found that cancer patients receiving home care provided by the clinic and their families who preferred home from the beginning often still preferred home until the end of their lives, and that those who did not prefer home at the beginning often preferred home by the last survey period. Thus, most of the patients lived out their lives in the places they and their families preferred.