• Kei Hirai, Tadashi Kudo, Miki Akiyama, Motohiro Matoba, Mariko Shiozaki, Teruko Yamaki, Akemi Yamagishi, Mitsunori Miyashita, Tatsuya Morita, and Kenji Eguchi.
• Center for the Study of Communication Design, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan. khirai@grappo.jp
• J Palliat Med. 2011 Aug 1;14(8):918-22.

BackgroundThis study explores the distribution of public awareness, knowledge of availability, and readiness for palliative care services, and the perceived reliability of information resources as part of a nationwide palliative care implementation intervention in Japan (Outreach Palliative Care Trial of Integrated Regional Model [OPTIM]).MethodsA cross-sectional anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted, and 3984 responses were used in the final analysis.ResultsA total of 63.1% of respondents admitted having no knowledge about palliative care, while 0.5% of respondents were using palliative care services. Respondents who knew about palliative care services, yet did not know about their availability were 18.6% of all respondents. Respondents who had cancer-related experiences were more likely to be aware of palliative care compared to the general population and availability of palliative care services. Only awareness of palliative care was significantly associated with two typical images, while cancer-related experiences were not.ConclusionFindings show that the public awareness of palliative care services and their availability is insufficient, and cancer-related experiences affect awareness of cancer palliative care but not directly related to typical images for palliative care such as care for patients close to death.

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