Attitudes and opinions about palliative care and actual knowledge of WHO definition of palliative care (n=1362)
| Attitude or opinion* | Actual knowledge of WHO palliative care definition | |||||
| No (weighted %) (95%) | OR (95%) | P value | AOR (95%)† | P value | ||
| High‡ N=529 | Low‡ N=833 | |||||
| Association of palliative care with end of life | ||||||
| No longer take care of yourself | 337 (64.8) (60.6 to 69.0) | 577 (68.6) (65.4 to 71.9) | 0.84 (0.66 to 1.07) | 0.16 | 0.81 (0.62 to 1.05) | 0.11 |
| Place where people go to die | 259 (49.4) (45.0 to 53.8) | 494 (58.5) (55.0 to 61.9) | 0.69 (0.55 to 0.87) | 0.001 | 0.60 (0.46 to 0.77) | <0.00001 |
| Being close to death | 288 (54.4) (50.0 to 58.8) | 589 (69.8) (66.5 to 73.0) | 0.52 (0.41 to 0.65) | <0.0001 | 0.45 (0.34 to 0.58) | <0.0001 |
| Last resort | 284 (55.1) (50.8 to 59.5) | 500 (59.3) (55.9 to 62.7) | 0.84 (0.67 to 1.06) | 0.14 | 0.84 (0.66 to 1.08) | 0.18 |
| Same as end-of-life care | 272 (51.3) (46.9 to 55.7) | 510 (60.6) (57.1 to 64.0) | 0.69 (0.55 to 0.86) | 0.001 | 0.59 (0.46 to 0.76) | <0.0001 |
| Sentiments about palliative care | ||||||
| Find term palliative care depressing | 184 (35.2) (31.0 to 39.4) | 362 (43.1) (39.7 to 46.6) | 0.72 (0.57 to 0.90) | 0.005 | 0.72 (0.56 to 0.93) | 0.01 |
| Would be fearful of palliative care referral | 265 (50.3) (45.9 to 54.6) | 509 (60.6) (57.2 to 64.0) | 0.66 (0.52 to 0.82) | 0.0003 | 0.67 (0.52 to 0.86) | 0.002 |
| Referral would mean doctor is giving up on the patient | 133 (25.8) (22.0 to 29.7) | 261 (31.4) (28.1 to 34.6) | 0.76 (0.59 to 0.98) | 0.03 | 0.68 (0.52 to 0.90) | 0.007 |
| Agree palliative care offers hope to patients | 231 (43.4) (39.1 to 47.8) | 241 (29.4) (26.2 to 32.6) | 1.84 (1.46 to 2.33) | <0.0001 | 1.88 (1.46 to 2.43) | <0.0001 |
*Responses to items regarding attitudes and opinions were dichotomised as agree/strongly agree versus neutral/disagree/strongly disagree.
†Adjusted for age, gender, education, marital status, household income (<CAD$50 000, ≥CAD$50 000, unknown), employment, European ethnicity, religion, region, new immigrant (≤10 years in Canada), healthcare professional, self or loved one diagnosed with a serious or life-threating illness.
‡High actual knowledge of WHO palliative care definition: ‘Yes, I knew this’ to at least 5/8 components, including that palliative care ‘can be provided together with other medical treatments aimed at prolonging life’ and that palliative care ‘can be provided early in the course of illness’; the remainder were classified as having low actual knowledge.
AOR, adjusted OR.