Journal of International Psychiatry

Objective: To investigate the hospice care attitudes and its related factors of middle-aged people. Methods: A self-designed questionnaire about hospice care was used to investigate 560 middle-aged medical and social groups. The data were expressed in X2 test, one-way ANOVA, and frequency analysis were used to analyze the data. Results:(1) There were significant differences among social groups with different educational levels in the degree of understanding of hospice care, the level of identity，the degree of avoiding death, and the need for death education (X2=36.27, 13.69, 13.22, 7.99；all P < 0.05). (2) The average cost of care for social groups is expected to be lower than the actual level. (3) There were significant differences in the willingness of health care workers with different gender and professional title to engage in hospice care(X2=6.17,35.63；P < 0.05). Classroom teaching and professional teaching materials were the main sources of hospice care-related knowledge for medical and nursing groups. And the two groups have a positive attitude towards caring for the mental health of terminally ill patients and including the length of life before death into the admission criteria. Conclusion: Medical schools and related institutions should take active measures to develop specialized hospice services in response to the increasing needs of an aging society in terms of the level of education of the public, the psychological expectations of the public in terms of consumption, the construction of medical and nursing teams, and the professional needs of the future elderly population for end-of-life services.

Hospice care; Middle-aged people; Attitude; Related factors