School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China.
School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 Apr 7;10:816023. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.816023. eCollection 2022.
The global burden of serious health-related suffering requiring palliative care has been projected to grow significantly by 2060, which indicates the imminent need for integrating palliative care into health systems globally. Moreover, research evidence has been accumulating in support of the earlier adoption of palliative care into the treatment course of serious life-threatening illnesses. However, barriers to earlier access to palliative care still remain, which might be attributable to the global lack of awareness of palliative care and the prevalence of negative perceptions and attitudes. To address this, further investigation of the influencing factors of public perceptions of palliative care is imperative to help inform and develop effective targeted public health campaigns and education messages aimed at improving views of palliative care and thereby early access.
We used data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey routinely administrated by the National Cancer Institute from the United States. Specifically, we analyzed the latest palliative care data from HINTS 5 Cycle 2 data set. Sociodemographic characteristics, individual factors such as self-perceived health status, and interpersonal factors such as relationship quality were examined as predictors of public awareness of and attitudes toward palliative care. Survey data were analyzed using SPSS 26 with multiple hierarchical regression tests.
Results showed that people's quality of interpersonal relationships was a significant influencing factor of their awareness of and attitudes toward palliative care. Moreover, cancer diagnosis history and perceived healthcare quality were found to jointly affect their awareness of palliative care; perceived health status and patient centeredness interacted to influence their awareness of and attitudes toward palliative care. Finally, female, non-white, and poorer people were more aware of palliative care, while female and more educated people had more favorable attitudes.
The quality of social relationships emerges as a significant predictor of people's awareness of and attitude toward palliative care, as treatment options and decisions of serious life-threatening illnesses often involve the patients' family. The results hold strong implications for public health campaigns and education messages aiming at changing people's views of palliative care, which ultimately improve end-of-life outcomes.
预计到 2060 年，全球严重与健康相关的需要姑息治疗的痛苦负担将显著增加，这表明全球迫切需要将姑息治疗纳入卫生系统。此外，越来越多的研究证据支持在严重危及生命的疾病的治疗过程中更早地采用姑息治疗。然而，获得姑息治疗的机会仍然存在障碍，这可能归因于全球对姑息治疗认识不足，以及对姑息治疗的负面看法和态度普遍存在。为了解决这个问题，进一步调查公众对姑息治疗的看法的影响因素至关重要，这有助于为改善对姑息治疗的看法并因此更早地获得姑息治疗提供信息和制定有效的有针对性的公共卫生运动和教育信息。
我们使用了来自美国国家癌症研究所定期进行的全国代表性横断面调查——健康信息国家趋势调查（HINTS）的数据。具体来说，我们分析了 HINTS 5 周期 2 数据集的最新姑息治疗数据。社会人口统计学特征、个人因素（如自我感知的健康状况）和人际关系因素（如关系质量）被视为公众对姑息治疗的认识和态度的预测因素。使用 SPSS 26 对调查数据进行了分析，并进行了多次分层回归测试。
结果表明，人际关系的质量是影响公众对姑息治疗的认识和态度的一个重要因素。此外，癌症诊断史和感知的医疗质量被发现共同影响他们对姑息治疗的认识；感知的健康状况和以患者为中心相互作用，影响他们对姑息治疗的认识和态度。最后，女性、非白人和贫困人群对姑息治疗的认识程度更高，而女性和受教育程度更高的人群对姑息治疗的态度更为有利。
社会关系的质量成为人们对姑息治疗的认识和态度的重要预测因素，因为严重危及生命的疾病的治疗选择和决策通常涉及到患者的家庭。这些结果对旨在改变人们对姑息治疗的看法的公共卫生运动和教育信息具有重要意义，最终改善临终结局。
