Attitudes and opinions about palliative care and perceived knowledge about palliative care (n=1362)
| Attitude or opinion* | Perceived knowledge of palliative care | |||||
| No (weighted %) (95%) | OR (95%) | P value | AOR (95%)† | P value | ||
| High‡ N=676 | Low‡ N=686 | |||||
| Association of palliative care with end of life | ||||||
| No longer take care of yourself | 459 (68.1) (64.5 to 71.8) | 455 (66.2) (62.6 to 69.9) | 1.09 (0.86 to 1.38) | 0.46 | 1.08 (0.82 to 1.41) | 0.59 |
| Place where people go to die | 418 (62.0) (58.2 to 65.8) | 335 (48.2) (44.4 to 52.0) | 1.75 (1.41 to 2.19) | <0.0001 | 1.64 (1.27 to 2.12) | 0.0002 |
| Being close to death | 493 (73.2) (69.8 to 76.6) | 384 (54.8) (51.0 to 58.7) | 2.25 (1.78 to 2.84) | <0.0001 | 2.20 (1.69 to 2.87) | <0.0001 |
| Last resort | 414 (62.5) (58.8 to 66.2) | 370 (53.1) (49.2 to 56.9) | 1.47 (1.18 to 1.84) | 0.0006 | 1.43 (1.10 to 1.84) | 0.007 |
| Same as end-of-life care | 451 (66.8) (63.1 to 70.5) | 331 (47.5) (43.7 to 51.4) | 2.22 (1.77 to 2.78) | <0.0001 | 2.15 (1.66 to 2.79) | <0.0001 |
| Sentiments about palliative care | ||||||
| Find term palliative care depressing | 261 (38.4) (34.6 to 42.2) | 285 (41.8) (38.0 to 45.6) | 0.87 (0.70 to 1.09) | 0.22 | 0.86 (0.66 to 1.10) | 0.23 |
| Would be fearful of palliative care referral | 377 (55.7) (51.8 to 59.5) | 397 (57.6) (53.8 to 61.4) | 0.92 (0.74 to 1.15) | 0.48 | 0.89 (0.69 to 1.16) | 0.39 |
| Referral would mean doctor is giving up on the patient | 211 (31.6) (28.0 to 35.2) | 183 (27.0) (23.6 to 30.4) | 1.25 (0.98 to 1.59) | 0.07 | 1.22 (0.91 to 1.62) | 0.18 |
| Palliative care offers hope to patients | 194 (28.1) (24.6 to 31.6) | 278 (41.3) (37.5 to 45.1) | 0.56 (0.44 to 0.70) | <0.0001 | 0.62 (0.47 to 0.81) | 0.0004 |
*Responses to items regarding attitudes and opinions were dichotomised as agree/strongly agree versus neutral/disagree/strongly disagree.
†Adjusted for age, gender (excluding other due to small count), 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 level of perceived knowledge: ‘I know what palliative care is and could explain it to someone else’; low level of perceived knowledge: ‘I know a little bit about palliative care but could not explain it’; or ‘I have only heard the words palliative care, but do not really know what it is.’
AOR, adjusted OR.