Satisfaction with Care Received at the End of Life in Portugal: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Although there is recent evidence from a range of sources that demonstrates the usefulness of assessing satisfaction with healthcare, there is still a lack of evidence regarding the satisfaction with healthcare received by adult individuals at the EOL in Portugal. Methods: This systematic review aims to examine and synthesize the evidence published through 2024 regarding satisfaction with care received by adult individuals at the EOL in Portugal. Results: Seven studies were included in this review. Six out of the seven studies were quantitative descriptive cross-sectional studies. The majority of them used family caregivers as the source of information. Most studies had small samples that characterized the satisfaction with care received in a palliative care context in a specific region of the country. Sixteen different variables were studied to understand the factors that influence satisfaction with care. The majority of them were related to the personal characteristics of the patient or the family caregiver. No evidence was found regarding the study of variables related to the patient's trajectory, location of care provision, or place of death. Conclusions: The different instruments used in the data collection in all of the included studies made it difficult to compare the results and draw definite conclusions regarding satisfaction with care received by adult individuals at the EOL in Portugal. Although different levels of satisfaction with the care were found, it can be concluded that the results tend to be positive in the palliative care context.

Keywords: Portugal; caregivers; delivery of healthcare; end-of-life care; nursing; palliative care; patient satisfaction; systematic review.

Figure 1

PRISMA flowchart, adapted from Page MJ, et al. [28].