TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and Validation of the Palliative Care Attitudes Scale (PCAS-9): A Measure of Patient Attitudes Toward Palliative Care
AU - Gerhart, James I
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This work was supported by the Research Competitiveness Subprogram (RCS) of the Louisiana Board of Regents (LA BOR), the Robert E. Flowerree Summer Research Fellowship from the Tulane University Psychology Department, U54GM104940, from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and R01CA168387 from the National Cancer Institute.
Funding Information:
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This work was supported by the Research Competitiveness Subprogram (RCS) of the Louisiana Board of Regents (LA BOR), the Robert E. Flowerree Summer Research Fellowship from the Tulane University Psychology Department, U54GM104940, from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and R01CA168387 from the National Cancer Institute. Appendix
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2020/2
Y1 - 2020/2
N2 - Context: Palliative Care is underutilized, and research has neglected patient-level factors including attitudes that could contribute to avoidance or acceptance of Palliative Care referrals. This may be due in part to a lack of existing measures for this purpose. Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a nine-item scale measuring patient attitudes toward Palliative Care, comprised of three subscales spanning emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors. Methods: Data were collected online in three separate waves, targeting individuals with cancer (Sample 1: N = 633; Sample 2: N = 462) or noncancer serious illnesses (Sample 3: N = 225). Participants were recruited using ResearchMatch.org and postings on the web sites, social media pages, and listservs of international health organizations. Results: Internal consistency was acceptable for the total scale (α = 0.84) and subscales: emotional (α = 0.84), cognitive (αs = 0.70), and behavioral (α = 0.90). The PCAS-9 was significantly associated with a separate measure of Palliative Care attitudes (ps < 0.001) and a measure of Palliative Care knowledge (ps < 0.004), supporting its construct validity in samples of cancer and noncancer serious illnesses. The scale's psychometric properties, including internal consistency and factor structure, generalized across patient subgroups based on diagnosis, other health characteristics, and demographics. Conclusion: Findings support the overall reliability, validity, and generalizability of the PCAS-9 in serious illness samples and have implications for increasing Palliative Care utilization via clinical care and future research efforts.
AB - Context: Palliative Care is underutilized, and research has neglected patient-level factors including attitudes that could contribute to avoidance or acceptance of Palliative Care referrals. This may be due in part to a lack of existing measures for this purpose. Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop and validate a nine-item scale measuring patient attitudes toward Palliative Care, comprised of three subscales spanning emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors. Methods: Data were collected online in three separate waves, targeting individuals with cancer (Sample 1: N = 633; Sample 2: N = 462) or noncancer serious illnesses (Sample 3: N = 225). Participants were recruited using ResearchMatch.org and postings on the web sites, social media pages, and listservs of international health organizations. Results: Internal consistency was acceptable for the total scale (α = 0.84) and subscales: emotional (α = 0.84), cognitive (αs = 0.70), and behavioral (α = 0.90). The PCAS-9 was significantly associated with a separate measure of Palliative Care attitudes (ps < 0.001) and a measure of Palliative Care knowledge (ps < 0.004), supporting its construct validity in samples of cancer and noncancer serious illnesses. The scale's psychometric properties, including internal consistency and factor structure, generalized across patient subgroups based on diagnosis, other health characteristics, and demographics. Conclusion: Findings support the overall reliability, validity, and generalizability of the PCAS-9 in serious illness samples and have implications for increasing Palliative Care utilization via clinical care and future research efforts.
M3 - Article
SN - 0885-3924
JO - Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
JF - Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
ER -
