POHLED ČESKÉ VEŘEJNOSTI NA PALIATIVNÍ PÉČI

Abstract

The topic of palliative care is not yet in the Czech Republic sufficiently discussed. The research try to attempt to identify current levels of awareness of palliative care within the Czech population.

The research was carried out through a postal survey. 2 000 individuals in Czech were identified at random from the phone book. To ensure geographical representation stratified random sampling was used. In total, 785 responses were received.

The research aimed to identify what are the current levels of knowledge of palliative care and what factors contribute to this knowledge. It also asked a number of additional questions relating to who respondents think should receive paliative care, what they think palliative care should consist of, when they would want information on palliative care and whether respondents feel that in the Czech society there is sufficient discussion of issues surrounding death and dying.

Overall the majority of respondents reported some knowledge of palliative care, with under a third reporting no knowledge. Only a very small number of respondents reported a high level of knowledge of palliative care. The vast majority of respondents feel that palliative care should be offered to all those who have terminal illnesses. The majority of respondents cited pain relief as important in end of life care with many stating this as their first, most important service. The second most common service requested for end of life care was family support, including respite services, support services and someone for family to talk to. Respect or dignity were also commonly cited. More than half of respondents stating that we do not discuss death and dying enough.

Although not a representative study, the survey findings confirm many of existing views and policies within palliative care and point to possible directions and challenges for future development.