A new poll reveals that many older adults have large gaps in knowledge concerning palliative care and hospice care.
Just over “a third (36%) of people age 50 and over say they know something about palliative care, while the rest (64%) say they know very little or not much at all.” A higher percentage of older adults said “they know something about hospice care, with 68% saying they know something about this form of end-of-life care that emphasizes comfort, pain relief and dignity.”
The poll gauged general awareness of the two terms and then “described both kinds of care to respondents age 50 and over across the United States, then asked how interested they would be in receiving these types of care should they need them.” 84% of older adults then said “they’d be interested in receiving palliative care if they had a serious illness, and 85% expressed interest in receiving hospice care if they were dying.”
White and Asian-American adults “were nearly twice as likely as Black or Hispanic older adults to know something or a lot about palliative care.” Awareness of hospice differed as well, “with both Black (52%) and Asian American (53%) respondents far less likely than white adults (72%) or Hispanic adults (68%) to know something about the end-of-life option.”
