Yujun Zhu1, Susan Enguídanos2. 1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. Electronic address: yujunzhu@usc.edu. 2. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Abstract
CONTEXT: Lack of knowledge or misconceptions about palliative care (PC) can serve as barriers to accessing PC for seriously ill patients. Although self-reported rates of PC knowledge have been increasing, little is known about how self-reports relate to actual PC knowledge. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of PC knowledge and the portion of those reporting they are knowledgeable have actual PC knowledge of basic PC principals. METHODS: We used the Health Information National Trends Survey 5, Cycle 2, a nationally representative data set to describe the prevalence of self-reported PC knowledge. We conducted chi-squared test to compare self-rated PC knowledge level with actual knowledge. Finally, we ran a logistic regression to examine if self-reported knowledge level, age, and cancer history were associated with actual PC knowledge. RESULTS: About 34% of participants self-reported having at least some knowledge of PC, and 41% of those reporting familiarities with PC were able to answer all three basic PC questions correctly. Rates of correct responses for cancer patients were similar (42%) to the general sample and older adults were lower (35%). Compared with those with less than a high school education, people with a bachelor's degree and post-baccalaureate degree had higher odds ratio (21.07 and 23.07, respectively) of actual understanding of PC. CONCLUSIONS: We found that self-reported PC knowledge may not reflect actual PC knowledge. Physicians should carefully explain PC when introducing it to patients. In addition, this PC information should be provided at a low literacy level to ensure widespread understanding of the service.
CONTEXT: Lack of knowledge or misconceptions about palliative care (PC) can serve as barriers to accessing PC for seriously ill patients. Although self-reported rates of PC knowledge have been increasing, little is known about how self-reports relate to actual PC knowledge. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of PC knowledge and the portion of those reporting they are knowledgeable have actual PC knowledge of basic PC principals. METHODS: We used the Health Information National Trends Survey 5, Cycle 2, a nationally representative data set to describe the prevalence of self-reported PC knowledge. We conducted chi-squared test to compare self-rated PC knowledge level with actual knowledge. Finally, we ran a logistic regression to examine if self-reported knowledge level, age, and cancer history were associated with actual PC knowledge. RESULTS: About 34% of participants self-reported having at least some knowledge of PC, and 41% of those reporting familiarities with PC were able to answer all three basic PC questions correctly. Rates of correct responses for cancerpatients were similar (42%) to the general sample and older adults were lower (35%). Compared with those with less than a high school education, people with a bachelor's degree and post-baccalaureate degree had higher odds ratio (21.07 and 23.07, respectively) of actual understanding of PC. CONCLUSIONS: We found that self-reported PC knowledge may not reflect actual PC knowledge. Physicians should carefully explain PC when introducing it to patients. In addition, this PC information should be provided at a low literacy level to ensure widespread understanding of the service.