Community attitudes towards palliative care

There have been recent calls to increase community awareness of palliative care, particularly Advance Health Directives and Advance Care Planning, to improve delivery of end-of-life care. However, there is research looking at health care professionals’ attitudes but little research on community attitudes to palliative care, Advance Health Directives or Advance Care Planning, and no studies have investigated what underpins community attitudes in this area. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of community attitudes to palliative care. A tripartite model was adopted, articulating an attitude as comprising cognitions (beliefs and knowledge), affect (emotions), and behaviours (experience). A cross-sectional, correlational study design was used and a convenience sample of 180 Australian adults (117 women, 63 men) completed an online questionnaire with a general measure of attitude towards palliative care and sections on beliefs, emotions and knowledge. Overall attitudes to palliative care were positive. After controlling for age and place of birth, beliefs, emotions, and knowledge each accounted for unique variance in attitude towards palliative care. This suggests that we need to focus on beliefs, emotions and knowledge in community education in order to increase community awareness and so that we obtain community acceptance of palliative care and a greater uptake of Advance Health Directives and Advance Care Planning.