Abstract
In recent years, Finnish care policy has emphasised that older people should remain at home for as long as possible. Since the final stages of life and death will theoretically happen more often in the home, it is important to identify people’s experiences and needs regarding end-of-life care and dying. The aim of this article is to provide knowledge on these questions from the perspective of the Northern Finnish people (N = 294). Statistical analysis was used with data gathered from a survey of a random sample. People’s wishes for their end-of-life place and carers and their end-of-life plans and concerns, are analysed as part of a social and cultural construction of dying and end-of-life care. The results show that people do have end-of-life concerns and that they consider end-of-life planning important but that few preparations are actually made. In many instances, home is regarded as the best place for end-of-life care and dying, but care institutions are also regarded positively. Reliance on professional care is very strong, even though people hope to receive care from family members as well. The results are discussed in the light of Finnish care policy and end-of-life culture .
This study is part of a comparative end-of-life care research initiated by Sapporo City University (Kazuyo Sooudi and Midori Mimaya) and Hokkaido University (Reiko Takeu and Azusa Shikanai) and carried out by the aforementioned together with the University of Lapland. Supplementary questions were added to the Finnish questionnaire (e.g. concerning end-of-life preparations) by the Finnish research team (Marjaana Seppänen, Marjo Outila, Eeva Rossi, Heli Valokivi, Satu Peteri). The analysis of the data was conducted as part of ‘A well-functioning home care to Lapland – Diverse forms of support to living at home’ project funded by the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. At an early phase of the analysis, help was received from statistics teacher Marianne Silen (University of Lapland).
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Notes
- 1.
There were 46 questions in the questionnaire, one of which was an open question. Examples of questions: Have you experienced someone close to you dying? Does thinking about the end-of-life worry you? If it does, what kind of worries do you have? Where would you like to spend the final stages of your life? From whom would you like to receive care at the end of life?
- 2.
The age groups were divided (<63 years and ≥63 years) based on the fact that 63 is a common retirement age in Finland .
- 3.
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Outila, M., Seppänen, M., Lantela, P., Vasari, P. (2019). Bringing Dying Back Home? – Northern Finns’ End-of-Life Preparations, Concerns and Care Preferences and Finnish Care Policy’s Emphasis on Care at Home. In: Naskali, P., Harbison, J., Begum, S. (eds) New Challenges to Ageing in the Rural North. International Perspectives on Aging, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20603-1_7
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