Knowledge on Palliative Care and Associated Factors among Nurses in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background. Palliative care is a multidisciplinary team-based care for patients facing life-threatening illness and their families which addresses their physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs to improve the quality of care. There is a strategy for an increase in palliative care services by integrating with the healthcare system. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis was aimed to assess the overall pooled prevalence of nurses’ knowledge towards palliative care in Ethiopia. Method. PubMed/MEDLINE, HINARI, EMBASE, Scopus, Google Scholar, and African Journals OnLine (AJOL) were the databases used to search for articles. Cochrane I2 statistics and Egger’s test were done to check heterogeneity and publication bias, respectively. Subgroup analysis by region, study period, and sample size was done due to the presence of heterogeneity. Sensitivity analysis was also done to detect the presence or absence of an influential study. Result. Nine studies with a total of 2709 study participants were included in the final analysis. The overall pooled prevalence of nurses’ knowledge towards palliative care was 45.57% (95% CI: 35.27–55.87). Educational status and palliative care training were significantly associated factors with the level of nurses’ knowledge towards palliative care. B.S. degree holder nurses (AOR = 3.01; 95% CI: 1.50–6.02) and nurses who had palliative care training (AOR = 4.64; 95% CI: 2.37–9.08) were found to be significantly associated factors with the nurses’ level of knowledge. Conclusion. More than half of nurses had poor knowledge of palliative care. Educational status of nurses and palliative care training were significantly associated factors with the nurses’ level of knowledge about palliative care. Therefore, palliative care training and improving nurses’ careers through continuous professional development should be focused on regularly to improve nurses’ knowledge about palliative care.

Caregivers’ Knowledge of and Attitude towards Palliative Care in Iran

“…Working experience was another predictor of caregivers' knowledge of and attitude toward PC that has been confirmed in previous studies (Fauziningtyas R 2020;Getie et al, 2021). More working experience is associated with more experience which will eventually lead to an increased level of knowledge (Eshaghian-dorcheh et al, 2019).…”

“…The results also show that as the level of education increases, caregivers' attitudes and knowledge regarding PC improves. In a systematic review, health care providers with a bachelor's degree had a higher level of PC knowledge compared to those with diploma certificates (Getie et al, 2021). In Iran, some nursing master's programs briefly present materials regarding the concepts of nursing care provision for the patient and family in critical and end-of-life stages, death, mourning and grief, pain, emotional support of the patient and family and legal issues (Ebadinejad et al, 2021).…”

Perception of Nurses’ Knowledge about Palliative Care in West Bank/ Palestine: Levels and Influencing Factors

“…14 Healthcare professionals particularly nurses should be professionally prepared with education about the standards of palliative care to improve their knowledge and their roles in providing palliative care, in addition to the therapeutic relationship with patients and their families. 15 The lack of adequate knowledge about palliative care is considered the major barrier to the development and practice of palliative care. 16 Previous studies have found that nurses had a lack of knowledge about palliative care in different countries including the US, 17 Greece, 18 Mongolia, 19 Pakistan, 20 Nigeria, 21 Ethiopia, 22 and Saudi Arabia.…”

“…23 A lack of nurses' knowledge about palliative care could lead to suboptimal quality and high cost of care. 15,24 Furthermore, previous studies found that nurses had poor knowledge about palliative care due to socio-demographic factors including age, 21,25 gender, 26,27 level of education, years of nursing experience, inadequate training in palliative care (pain and symptom management and therapeutic communication about care goals), and hospital ward (eg, critical care units, medical, and surgical). 15,17,19,23,[28][29][30][31][32] The World Health Organization established a public health strategy (PHS) as an effective approach to incorporating palliative care into the country's healthcare system.…”

Psychometrics of the Persian version of Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice Questionnaire (German Revised - PPCEP-GR)

“…Palliative care is aimed to improve the quality of life of patients and their families in facing the problems associated with life-threatening diseases. It involves prevention, reduction, early diagnosis, and accurate assessment and treatment of pain and suffering as well as other physical, psychological, social, and spiritual problems [2]. A palliative care approach should be taken into account for people with cancer or any progressive or chronic illness as soon as the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness.…”