How social, psychological, and spiritual needs are supported in the last months of life: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing end-of-life interviews.
Background End-of-life care includes social, psychological, and spiritual support in addition to medical care. Population-level evidence on whether these non-medical needs are met in the last months of life, who provides such support, and how it is perceived remains limited. Methods We analysed end-...
| Published in: | Age & Ageing Vol. 55; no. 7; pp. 1 - 9 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195867357&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195867357 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00020729 AGA jtl: Age & Ageing issn: 00020729 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 55 iid: 7 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 195867357 10.1093/ageing/afag202 ppf: 1 ppct: 8 formats: tig: atl: How social, psychological, and spiritual needs are supported in the last months of life: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing end-of-life interviews. aug: au: Meier, Clément White, Nicola Steptoe, Andrew Sallnow, Libby affil: Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, UK Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London, London, UK Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, UK Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, University College London, London, UKEnd of Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium su: England Families & psychology Psychological aspects of aging Health services accessibility Palliative treatment Income Interviewing Causes of death Spirituality Quality of life Terminal care Social support Needs assessment Psychology of caregivers Social isolation Educational attainment Research funding Statistical hypothesis testing Place of death Multiple regression analysis Probability theory Descriptive statistics Multivariate analysis Longitudinal method Cognition disorders Medical needs assessment Data analysis software Dementia sug: subj: Families & psychology Psychological aspects of aging Health services accessibility Palliative treatment Income Interviewing Causes of death Spirituality Quality of life Terminal care Social support Needs assessment Psychology of caregivers Social isolation Educational attainment England Other Individual and Family Services Research funding Statistical hypothesis testing Place of death Multiple regression analysis Probability theory Descriptive statistics Multivariate analysis Longitudinal method Cognition disorders Medical needs assessment Data analysis software Dementia keyword: aged aging copyrightHolder:British Geriatrics Society copyrightYear:2026 dementia educational status emotional support end-of-life care https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag202 inLanguage:en non-medical needs older people palliative care population-based study proxy psychological support public health medicine publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42407095/ social support spiritual support terminally ill aged aging copyrightHolder:British Geriatrics Society copyrightYear:2026 dementia educational status emotional support end-of-life care https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag202 inLanguage:en non-medical needs older people palliative care population-based study proxy psychological support public health medicine publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42407095/ social support spiritual support terminally ill ab: Background End-of-life care includes social, psychological, and spiritual support in addition to medical care. Population-level evidence on whether these non-medical needs are met in the last months of life, who provides such support, and how it is perceived remains limited. Methods We analysed end-of-life proxy interviews from deceased participants aged 55 years and older in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n = 507). Outcomes included whether social, psychological, and spiritual needs were met in the last three months of life, and how support was provided and perceived. Analyses included multivariate probit models adjusted for sociodemographic and end-of-life factors. Findings Individuals died at a mean age of 83 years (range 55–105). Social and psychological needs were met for most individuals (81.8% and 77.8%); among those with spiritual needs (n = 227), 74.4% had these needs met. Support was provided predominantly by family members, with limited involvement of formal services, and was generally rated as good or excellent and helpful. Living alone was associated with lower probabilities of having social, psychological, and spiritual needs met, while dementia was associated with lower probabilities of having social and psychological needs met (P < .05–.01). Higher educational attainment was associated with a higher probability of having spiritual needs met (P < .05–.01). Conclusions Reliance on informal networks creates inequities in non-medical end-of-life support, particularly for older adults living alone or with dementia, underscoring the need for more integrated public health approaches. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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