Development of and Testing Novel Questionnaires Assessing Palliative Care-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Confidence Among Home Healthcare Clinicians, Patients, and Caregivers.
Ashley M Chastain, Jingjing Shang, Komal P Murali and 7 others
PMID 39763039WHAT IT FOUND
Home healthcare clinicians and patients/caregivers often lacked accurate pain and opioid knowledge, while attitudes toward palliative care were positive.
The new questionnaires can measure this, but they do not prove training improves care.
Key findings
01When participants completed the questionnaires twice, 14 days apart, answers showed strong agreement across knowledge, attitudes and confidence sections.
02Pilot respondents had major gaps in pain and opioid knowledge: 45% of clinicians and 61% of patients/caregivers were incorrect or lacked correct knowledge.
03Attitudes were positive, but only approximately 54% of clinicians felt confident providing palliative care for seriously ill patients in the home.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot questionnaire development study, not a trial of palliative care training or a patient outcome study. The pilot sample was small and came from one large urban home healthcare agency in the Northeast United States. Reliability analyses were based on 30 clinicians and 30 patients/caregivers who completed both timepoints. Clinician results were reported together, so gaps cannot be attributed specifically to physical therapists, occupational therapists, registered nurses or social workers. The paper did not show that the questionnaires predict real palliative care delivery or patient outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that palliative care training improves clinician knowledge or patient outcomes. The paper tested questionnaires and reported baseline gaps in a small pilot; it did not deliver or evaluate training.