Joseph Nitin, S Jayarama, Kotian Shashidhar
Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, India.
Indian J Palliat Care. 2009 Jul;15(2):122-6. doi: 10.4103/0973-1075.58457.
To assess the knowledge and attitude toward palliative care among people residing in urban and rural areas.
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 185 urban and 165 rural households. Senior-most member of the household present was interviewed using a questionnaire. Only those people who have heard about palliative care were included in the study.
Out of 350 people, 47 (13.4%) have heard about palliative care. Of these 38 (20.5%) belonged to urban and 9 (5.4%) belonged to rural areas (P < 0.0001).Twenty-nine (15.7%) participants in urban and 7 (4.2%) in rural areas had some knowledge about palliative care (P = 0.0002). Source of information for 25 (53.2%) participants was newspapers followed by television 17 (36.2%). Thirty-three (86.8%) participants in urban and 7 (77.8%) in rural areas felt that palliative care helps in improving quality of life. Twenty (52.6%) participants in urban and 4 (44.4%) participants in rural areas felt that palliative care can be better provided at homes than hospitals. Thirty (78.9%) urban participants felt that bad news about the patient's condition needs to be told to the patient first and then to their family members. In case of rural participants majority 7 (77.8%) said vice versa (P = 0.0039).
Overall awareness of palliative care was poor. This calls for large-scale awareness campaigns. As home-based palliative care was preferred by many, home visits by care providers and training of family members of patient's needing palliative care needs to be practiced widely.
评估城乡居民对姑息治疗的认知和态度。
本横断面研究在185户城市家庭和165户农村家庭中进行。使用问卷对每户中最年长者进行访谈。仅将那些听说过姑息治疗的人纳入研究。
在350人中，47人（13.4%）听说过姑息治疗。其中，38人（20.5%）来自城市，9人（5.4%）来自农村（P<0.0001）。城市地区29名（15.7%）参与者和农村地区7名（4.2%）参与者对姑息治疗有一定了解（P = 0.0002）。25名（53.2%）参与者的信息来源是报纸，其次是电视17名（36.2%）。城市地区33名（86.8%）参与者和农村地区7名（77.8%）参与者认为姑息治疗有助于提高生活质量。城市地区20名（52.6%）参与者和农村地区4名（44.4%）参与者认为在家中提供姑息治疗比在医院更好。30名（78.9%）城市参与者认为应先将患者病情的坏消息告知患者本人，然后再告知其家属。在农村参与者中，大多数7名（77.8%）表示顺序相反（P = 0.0039）。
总体而言，对姑息治疗的认知较差。这需要开展大规模的宣传活动。由于许多人更喜欢居家姑息治疗，护理人员应广泛开展家访，并对需要姑息治疗患者的家属进行培训。
