Length of cancer patients' stay at a hospice: Does it affect psychological adjustment to the loss of the spouse?

The relationship is examined between the length of stay of 134 cancer patients at a hospice and the subsequent adjustment to loss by their spouses. Regression analysis found no significant correlation between the independent variables of length of hospice stay, gender, duration of time spent bedridden, time elapsed since death, and year of diagnosis and the dependent variables of psychological adjustment by their surviving spouses as assessed by the brief symptom inventory (BSI), the psychosocial adjustment to physical illness scale (PAIS), and the Texas revised inventory of grief (TRIG) scale. An analysis of covariance, however, found that a short hospice stay (1-7 days) had a beneficial effect on the spouse's bereavement compared to a long stay (8+ days).