title: Perceptions and attitudes about hospice and palliative care among community-dwelling older adults.
abstract: It is expected that the American geriatric population will have an increased need for hospice and palliative care services over the next few decades. We surveyed 187 community dwelling older adults about several aspects related to end-of-life (EOL) care. Participants were much more familiar with the term hospice than palliative care. In general, they had positive attitudes towards hospice and palliative care. Although experience caring for a dying relative was common, it wasn't associated with better attitudes towards hospice and palliative care or better familiarity with these terms. Familiarity with the term palliative care was associated with better attitudes towards EOL care. Our findings highlight the need for enhanced end-of-life care education among older adults, and reinforce the need for further research in this area.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Manu
authors.forename: Terri L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Mack-Biggs
authors.forename: Caroline A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galecki
authors.forename: Tisha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montagnini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States