Knowledge of Palliative Care Among Community-Dwelling Adults.
Elissa Kozlov, Meghan McDarby, M Carrington Reid and 1 others
PMID 28819986WHAT IT FOUND
Community adults scored 5.25 out of 13 on a palliative care knowledge test, and 46.8% had heard of palliative care.
Many chose 'I don't know,' and those who had not heard of it scored lower.
Key findings
01Community adults scored a mean of 5.25 on the palliative care knowledge scale, and 46.8% had heard of palliative care.
02Participants chose the 'I don't know' option a mean of 6.5 times, and those who had not heard of palliative care chose it more often than those who had.
03People who had not heard of palliative care scored lower than those who had, mean 2.23 versus 8.68.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk and was skewed toward more educated, white, and young adults compared with the general population. Participants were community adults, not patients or caregivers currently facing serious illness, so the results may not reflect the people who would use palliative care. The study was a survey, so it describes knowledge at the time of the questionnaire and does not test whether education changes understanding or palliative care use. Because 'I don't know' responses were scored as incorrect, total scores do not separate wrong answers from admitted lack of knowledge.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these low scores as the knowledge of patients or families currently facing serious illness. The sample was community adults recruited online, not patients or caregivers, and the study tested no education intervention.