This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Claxton-Oldfield, S. Articles by Rishchynski, G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Claxton-Oldfield, S. Articles by Rishchynski, G. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Health Literacy Palliative Care Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Understanding of the term "palliative care": A Canadian survey

Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada

Jane Claxton-Oldfield

Victorian Order of Nurses, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada

Giselle Rishchynski

Psychology Program, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada

This article examines the results of two studies conducted in Atlantic Canada to evaluate people’s understanding of palliative care. In Study 1, a sample of adults were asked to respond to a brief survey. Respondents were asked if they had ever heard of palliative care. Those who answered "yes" were asked to respond to a number of additional questions about palliative care. The results of Study 1 revealed that over three-quarters of the respondents (75.3 percent) had heard of palliative care, however, only about half of these (48.4 percent) defined it as care for terminally ill or dying persons. Of those who had heard of palliative care, the vast majority (92.3 percent) said they would use palliative care services if they had a terminally ill family member.

In Study 2, respondents were presented with a written description of palliative care. After reading the description, respondents were asked to indicate whether or not they knew (prior to reading the description) what palliative care was. Those who answered "yes" were asked to provide a written explanation of how they first learned about palliative care; those who answered "no" were asked to provide written suggestions of how they believed information about palliative care should be disseminated to the public. The results revealed that 60.5 percent of the respondents knew about palliative care before reading the description. Of those who knew about palliative care, 40.8 percent of them first learned about it through personal experience with the death of a family member or close friend. Of those who did not know what palliative care was, the suggestions they gave for creating community awareness of palliative care included: information disseminated by healthcare providers, use of pamphlets, the media, and the church.

Key Words: palliative care • cancer • terminal • amyotrophic lateral sclerosis • AIDS • end of life

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®, Vol. 21, No. 2, 105-110 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/104990910402100207


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?