Palliative care awareness amongst religious leaders and seminarians: a Nigerian study

INTRODUCTION: There exists scanty literature on the awareness of Nigerians towards palliative care. This study was conducted to determine the level of awareness of religious leaders and seminarians in Ibadan, Nigeria, on palliative care. METHODS: Data obtained from a cross-section of 302 religious leaders and seminarians in the metropolitan city of Ibadan, Nigeria, were used in this research. Study tool was a self-administered questionnaire which obtained information from the participants about their bio-data and knowledge of palliative care. Data analysis was done using the SPSS version 16 Software. RESULTS: The mean age of the respondents was 28.99 years, with 55.6% of them being within the age range of 21 to 30 years. The majority (94%) were males, 68.5% were single and 79.8% were seminarians. Only 31.8% have heard of palliative care before, 12.6% knew a health facility where palliative care is rendered in Nigeria, while 21.9% knew that chaplains are members of the palliative care team. CONCLUSION: The level of awareness of palliative care among religious leaders and seminarians in Ibadan, Nigeria, is low. There exists the need to educate Nigerian religious leaders and seminarians on palliative care.