• Thomas F Hack, Susan E McClement, Harvey Max Chochinov, Brenden Dufault, Wendy Johnston, Murray W Enns, Genevieve N Thompson, Mike Harlos, Ronald W Damant, Clare D Ramsey, Sara N Davison, James Zacharias, David Strang, and Heather J Campbell-Enns.
• College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada; Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology at CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Electronic address: thack@sbrc.ca.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2018 Nov 1; 56 (5): 760-766.

ContextIt has become commonplace to use family caregivers as proxy responders where patients are unable to provide information about their symptoms and concerns to health care providers.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to determine the degree of concordance between patients' and family members' reports of patient symptoms and concerns at end of life.MethodsSample dyads included a mix of patients residing at home, in a nursing home, in a long-term care facility, or in hospice. Diagnoses included patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n = 75), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 52), end-stage renal disease (n = 42), and institutionalized, cognitively intact frail elderly (n = 49). Dyads completed the Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI), the modified Structured Interview Assessment of Symptoms and Concerns in Palliative Care, and Graham and Longman's two-item Quality of Life Scale.ResultsConcordance was less than 70% for seven of the 25 PDI items, with the lowest concordance (65.1%) for the item "not being able to continue with my usual routines." For all but one PDI item, discordance was in the direction of family members reporting that the patient was worse off than the patient had indicated. Where discordance was observed on the Structured Interview Assessment of Symptoms and Concerns in Palliative Care and Quality of Life Scales, the trend toward family members overreporting patient distress and poor quality of life continued.ConclusionUnderstanding discordance between patients and family member reports of symptoms and concerns is a valuable step toward minimizing patient and family burden at end of life.Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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