Willingness of advanced cancer patients to receive palliative care and its determinants: A cross-sectional study in Northern Tanzania

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess willingness of advanced cancer patients to receive palliative care and its determinants at Cancer Care Centre in Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre Northern Tanzania. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess willingness of advanced cancer patients to receive palliative care and its determinants at Cancer Care Centre in Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre Northern Tanzania. METHODS: This was an institution-based cross-sectional study and the target population was all advanced cancer patients attending care at Cancer care Centre in Northern Tanzania. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using Stata for windows 15. A descriptive analysis was conducted to summarize the data using mean standard deviation, while categorical data was summarized using frequency and percentages. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors associated with willingness to receive palliative care. RESULTS: The results showed that more than half of the respondents had willingness to accept palliative care. The degree of willingness PC among advanced cancer patients was high 60.6% (95%CI: 55.8–65.3). The predictors which remained significant associated with willingness to receive palliative care in multivariate analysis were the knowledgeable of palliative care [AOR: 2.86; 95%CI: 1.69–4.85] and high perceived benefits of palliative care [AOR: 3.58; 95%CI: 2.12–6.04]. CONCLUSION: Willingness to accept palliative care services was more than half of the patients just 60.6% among patients with advanced cancer from the study site. Advanced age of a patient, occupations, better knowledge, and perceived benefits for palliative care was the significant predictor for patients’ willingness to accept palliative care.