Attitudes Towards Care of the Dying: A Questionnaire Survey of General Practice Attenders

Abstract

In order to determine the views of General Practice attenders on death and dying, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire with nine questions on aspects of death and dying. There were 4117 respondents with an average age of 36.4 years, who attended 10 general practices. A control group of 100 patients was employed. There was a stated preference for management by the General Practitioner and a wish to die in the home. An honest approach by doctors was called for and the greatest fear concerning death was that of leaving the family. A subgroup of people who stated that they had close personal experience of death or dying, amplified most of these findings.

Place of Care in Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Systematic Literature Review of Patient Preferences

“…surgeries who had close experience of death and dying, reported a slightly lower home preference Nineteen studies were identified that reported (52% compared to 64%) and a higher preference preferences for place of care in advanced illness for hospice care (35%, compared to 16%) 10 comor at death. Fried et al 6 considered preferences pared with other attendees at these surgeries.…”

Exploring public awareness and perceptions of palliative care: A qualitative study

“…Negative perceptions about death and dying may manifest as fears and anxieties about the dying process, fears over lack of control at end-of-life, lack of openness between close family members when a person is dying, and behaviours associated with accessing palliative and end of life care services. [18][19][20][21][22] Nevertheless, public opinion surveys in both the UK and Ireland have shown that the public perceives there to be insufficient conversation about death and dying in the community 8,[23][24] and the majority would welcome discussions with clinicians in advance about end of life issues. 9,25 Modification of public perceptions of palliative care is central to improving knowledge of and access to services, empowering individuals, and involving communities in palliative and end of life care.…”

Factors that influence physicians in providing palliative care in rural communities in Taiwan

“…Previous studies showed that over half of advanced cancer patients prefer to stay at home and die there [1, 5,6,18,27]. Moreover, some claimed that home-based services are cheaper than and as effective as hospital services [2,[12][13][14].…”