• Investigating the knowledge level of palliative care in the elderly with chronic diseases living in Shiraz city
  • Afshin Mohebi zarin dare,1,* amirmohammad azizi,2 Fazel Sajedi,3 Zeinab Sadat Moosavi Fard,4
    1. BSc in Nursing, Department of Nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
    2. BSc in Nursing, Department of Nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
    3. BSc in Nursing, Department of Nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
    4. Department of Nursing, faculty of nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.


  • Introduction: Determining the level of knowledge of the elderly about palliative care and identifying their needs can play an important role in encouraging the use of palliative care services. The development of educational resources related to palliative care for the elderly requires a lot of information about the level of knowledge exists in this group, so this study was conducted with the aim of determining the knowledge level of palliative care in the elderly with chronic diseases living in Shiraz city.
  • Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 200 elderly people with chronic diseases in Shiraz city were selected using available sampling. The data collection tool was demographic factors questionnaire and PaCKS palliative care knowledge scale questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 26.
  • Results: 51% of the study participants were over 75 years old and the chronic disease of most of the elderly (44%) was cardiac. 40% of the elderly got their information related to palliative care from the medical staff and 36% of them did not have any source to get information related to palliative care. The mean score of palliative care knowledge was 9.89±3.07, which was evaluated at the average level. 56.5% of the elderly had moderate and poor knowledge about palliative care. The chi-square test showed a significant relationship between the variables of the source of information related to palliative care and the economic status of the samples with their level of knowledge p˂0/05.
  • Conclusion: Considering the level of knowledge of the elderly regarding palliative care, it is suggested to hold training courses in order to maintain and improve the knowledge level of this group. The development of educational programs by the medical staff in the field of palliative care can play an effective role in improving the knowledge of the elderly.
  • Keywords: Palliative care, knowledge, elderly, chronic disease