Table 1 Summary of the key literature on public awareness of palliative care
From: Public awareness and attitudes toward palliative care in Northern Ireland
Author and year | Location | Sample | Method | Awareness level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
MacLeod et al. [24] | New Zealand | sampling matrix of 1011 adult subjects | Online survey | Findings revealed good understanding of the concept of palliative care, with 85% believing that palliative care staff provide comfort to people with terminal illness |
Hirai et al. [4] | Japan | 3984 | Cross sectional anonymous questionnaire | Sixty-three per cent admitted no knowledge about palliative care |
Benini et al. [25] | Italy | Random sample of 1897 adult subjects | Interviews | More than 40% had never heard of palliative care with only 23% declared having an adequate or precise idea of what PC is. |
Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing [26] | Australia | Stratified sample of 1201 adult subjects | Mixed methods which included a telephone survey | Australians had a low to moderate knowledge and understanding of palliative care - 38% could explain palliative care to another, 33% only know a little, 13% have heard the term and 16% were not aware. |
Claxton-Oldfield et al. [6] | Canada | Random sample 89 adult subjects | Face to face survey | Seventy-five per cent had heard of palliative care, however, only about half of these (48%) defined it as care for terminally ill or dying persons. |
Wallace [16] | Scotland | Random sample 668 adult subjects | Telephone survey | Most reported some knowledge of palliative care (49%), with under a third reporting no knowledge. |