Abstract A36: Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice and associated factors towards palliative care among health care providers to the pediatric oncology patients in southern Philippines

Abstract

Abstract Background: Palliative care in the Philippines is categorized as 3A, considered to have localized hospice care provision; however, lack of education and awareness are dismal and accounted as the biggest challenges for the health care providers and for their patients. Other barriers like access and referral to palliative care specialist were not even equitable for all, especially in the Southern Philippines. The pervasive stigma of what palliative care means to the health care provider remains the major problem for accessing palliative programs, particularly in pediatric oncology patients. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of health care providers towards pediatric palliative care. It intended to discover the associated factors that limit the pediatric oncology patients to receive palliative care, and to identify the barriers in providing palliative care by the cancer centers to the pediatric oncology patients. Method: A cross-sectional study design was used to carry out the research study in the 500 respondents (100 oncology doctors, 250 medical nurses, and 150 allied health workers) using a systematic random sampling method at the 13 tertiary care hospitals that offer palliative care to pediatric oncology patients in the Southern Philippines. Structured questionnaire was circulated to identify the barriers of palliative care, and assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of health care providers using a systematic random sampling method. The data were entered, cleaned, and analyzed using Excel and SPSS version 19.0 software. The chi-square test was employed to assess the association between variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: From the total of 508 health care providers selected, a response rate of 500 (98.4%) was registered. Among the respondents, 287 (57.4%) had good knowledge and 259 (58.1%) had favorable attitude towards pediatric palliative care. In contrast, the level of practice showed that the majority, 384 (76.8%) of health care providers, had poor practice towards palliative care. Results showed that 94% to 99% of health care providers believed that the inadequate research evidence base to guide and measure the quality of life and lack of staff training in pediatric palliative care were the major barriers in providing palliative care by the cancer centers to the pediatric oncology patients. In addition, 100% of health care providers affirmed that the ignorance and lack of awareness about the existing program and resources of palliative care were the major factors that limit the pediatric oncology patients in receiving pediatric palliative care in Southern Philippines. Conclusions: The health care providers had poor training and knowledge aspect of practice, but their attitude towards palliative care was favorable. Recommendations are the need to be incorporated in the Department of Health through Continuing Professional Development to promote regular training for palliative care. Citation Format: Jayson Cagadas Pasaol, Jashin Rosal, Jansen Marcos Cambia, Jin Kyoung Oh. Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice and associated factors towards palliative care among health care providers to the pediatric oncology patients in southern Philippines [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Environmental Carcinogenesis: Potential Pathway to Cancer Prevention; 2019 Jun 22-24; Charlotte, NC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2020;13(7 Suppl): Abstract nr A36.