Knowledge of Palliative Care in Ecuador

Abstract

Palliative care is a holistic approach to care for people with chronic, advanced, and life-threatening illnesses. It improves the quality of life of patients and their caregivers. However, there is still limited access to palliative care in many countries. Knowledge about palliative care is key to increase its availability. Thus, this article aimed to explore the knowledge of the general population about palliative care in Ecuador. The study had a descriptive cross-sectional design. Through snowball sampling, between September 2019 and January 2020, 257 people completed an anonymous online questionnaire about general and specific aspects of palliative care. Descriptive and ANOVA analyses indicate that people have many misconceptions about palliative care and how it should be provided. Gender, education, training, occupation, and experience as caregivers were related to the total level of knowledge about palliative care. Regression analyses show other variables as predictors of knowledge. This study highlights the lack of knowledge about specific issues within palliative care in the general population in Ecuador. It also shows the need to develop and implement education measures to fill these gaps and enhance access to palliative care in health systems.