Perspectives on palliative care in Lebanon:
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical
and nursing specialties
HUDA ABU-SAAD HUIJER, R.N., PH.D., F.E.A.N.S., HANI DIMASSI, PH.D., AND
SARAH ABBOUD, R.N., M.S.N.
School of Nursing, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
(RECEIVED June 26, 2008; ACCEPTED July 19, 2008)
ABSTRACT
Objective: Our objective was to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physicians
and nurses on Palliative Care (PC) in Lebanon, across specialties.
Method: We performed a cross-sectional descriptive survey using a self-administered
questionnaire; the total number of completed and returned questionnaires was 868, giving a
23% response rate, including 74.31% nurses (645) and 25.69% physicians (223).
Results: Significant differences were found between medical and surgical nurses and
physicians concerning their perceptions of patients’ and families’ outbursts, concerns, and
questions. Knowledge scores were statistically associated with practice scores and degree.
Practice scores were positively associated with continuing education in PC, exposure to
terminally ill patients, and knowledge and attitude scores. Acute critical care and oncology were
found to have lower practice scores than other specialties.
Significance of results: Formal education in palliative care and development of palliative care
services are very much needed in Lebanon to provide holistic care to terminally ill patients.
KEYWORDS: Palliative care, Physicians, Nurses, Knowledge, attitudes, Practices, Lebanon
INTRODUCTION
Palliative care (PC) is defined by the World Health
Organization (WHO) as “an approach that improves
the quality of life of patients and their families facing
the problems associated with life-threatening illness,
through the prevention and relief of suffering by
means of early identification and impeccable assessment
and treatment of pain and other problems,
physical, psychological and spiritual” (WHO, 2006).
In Lebanon, PC is new to the health care field. It
was first introduced by the WHO National Cancer
Control Workshop in 1995 and later by the Middle
East Oncology Congress in 1999 (Abu-Saad & Daher,
2005). Despite the interest in this field, little is
known about the knowledge, attitudes, and practices
(KAP) of nurses and physicians working in different
specialties in Lebanon.
Several studies were conducted to evaluate KAP of
physicians and nurses working in different specialties
in PC. Miccinesi et al. (2005) conducted a study
in six European countries and Australia on physicians’
attitudes toward end-of-life decisions. Physicians
from 10 different specialties were involved in
this study. In all countries, oncologists and geriatricians
had the lowest score for use of “lethal drugs”
and the highest score for preserving life; anesthesiologists
had the lowest score for preserving life.
Hanratty et al. (2006) reported that cardiologists
in England believed that dealing with the death of
their patients meant dealing with their failure. In
Australia, Wotton et al. (2005) found the level of nurses’
knowledge in patients with end stage heart failure
to be influenced by specialty; PC nurses believed
cardiac pharmacology should be decreased in end
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Huda AbuSaad
Huijer, American University of Beirut, P.O. Box 11-0236,
Beirut, Lebanon. E-mail: huda.huijer@aub.edu.lb
Palliative and Supportive Care (2009), 7, 339–347.
Copyright # Cambridge University Press, 2009 1478-9515/09 $20.00
doi:10.1017/S1478951509990277
339
stage heart failure, whereas acute care nurses considered
it better to have both PC and cardiac therapy.
In Lebanon, in a study by Yazigi et al. (2005) on
withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment
in an ICU, the nursing staff was not involved in
the decisions to limit care in 26% of terminally ill
patients and families in 21% of the cases. In addition,
decisions regarding withholding and withdrawal of
life-sustaining treatments were not recorded in the
medical chart of the patient in 23% of the cases,
most likely secondary to lack of legal guidelines.
Similar results were reported in other studies regarding
ICU physicians and nurses (Thibault-Prevost
et al., 2000; Mosenthal et al., 2002; Ferrand
et al., 2003; Boyle et al., 2005; Yazigi et al., 2005;
Levy & McBride, 2006; Mosenthal & Murphy, 2006).
A number of studies in oncology (Hilden et al.,
2001; White et al., 2001; Cherny & Catane, 2003;
Wang et al., 2004; Steginga et al., 2005; Morita
et al., 2006) addressed the self-assessment level of
competence in dealing with dying patients; some
nurses and physicians felt competent dealing with
physical symptoms and less competent with psychological
symptoms. Discrepancies were found between
physicians and nurses regarding informing patients
and their families about diagnosis and prognosis
and involving them in the decision-making process.
Pediatric nurses working with dying children reported
being most competent with pain management
and least competent in talking with children and
their families (Feudtner et al., 2007).
Pediatric residents showed a strong interest in PC
education mainly in pain control, discussing prognosis,
delivering bad news, and including children in
discussions about end-of-life care (Kolarik et al.,
2006).
Pan et al. (2005) found 70% of geriatric fellows to
have had PC courses and rotations during their fellowship.
Almost all fellows considered it the physician’s
responsibility to assist patients in facing the
end of life and preparing them for death. Nurses
working in long-term-care facilities were found to
lack knowledge in PC; they needed information on
pain and symptom management in addition to information
on the philosophy and principles of PC (Raudonis
et al., 2002).
In Lebanon, no PC studies have been conducted to
assess KAP of nurses and physicians. The purpose of
this study is to determine PC knowledge, attitudes,
and practices among physicians and nurses from
different specialties.
The following research questions were addressed:
1. How do physicians and nurses from different
specialties differ in their knowledge of PC?
2. What are the attitudes of physicians and nurses
from different specialties toward PC?
3. Do physicians and nurses provide PC for terminally
ill patients, and how does provision of
PC differ by specialty?
METHODS
Design, Sample, and Setting
A cross-sectional descriptive survey was taken that
used a self-administered questionnaire.
The target population was nurses and physicians
currently working in hospitals in Lebanon. Participants
were chosen from 15 hospitals geographically
spread in Lebanon, 4 of which are academic hospitals
located in Beirut, the capital. A contact person was
designated per hospital to distribute and collect
questionnaires. This was done in close collaboration
with the syndicate of private hospitals in Lebanon.
Institutional Review Board approval was granted
by all hospitals.
Data Collection Procedures
The sample size determination was based on a power
of 80%, alpha of 5%, and a precision (effect size) of
3%, with a baseline proportion of .5 (used when the
proportion is not known). The calculated sample
size was 1,056, but to account for nonresponse rates,
all nurses and physicians in the selected hospitals
were included in the study. A total of 3,757 (1,873
nurses and 1,884 physicians) questionnaires were
sent between November 2005 and January 2006
with a cover letter written by the first author describing
the goals of the study, name of the contact person,
and a time frame of 2 weeks for returning the questionnaire.
A reminder was sent after 2 weeks and
deadline extended to 2 months due to the low response
rate.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire, designed especially for this study,
was developed based on a review of the literature and
information gained from a qualitative study conducted
by the principal investigator. Content validity
and appropriateness for use in Lebanon was established
by a team of experts. It was pilot tested for
feasibility and clarity.
Because the educational background of nurses and
physicians in Lebanon is either English or French,
the questionnaire was developed in both languages.
It includes six sections: general information on specialty
area; perceptions and knowledge; attitudes,
practice, and needs assessment for PC services, and
340 Abu-Saad Huijer et al.
two open-ended questions on the best model for delivering
PC and general comments.
Statistical Analysis
General characteristics were reported using means
and standard deviations for numerical variables
such as age and years of experience. Categorical variables,
such as specialty and gender, were reported
using frequencies and percentages. Physicians and
nurses were compared by specialties using analyses
of variance (ANOVA), chi-square, and the Fisher
exact test when appropriate. Knowledge score (KS;
16 items), attitude score (AS; 19 items), and practice
score (PS; 41 items) were created by summing the
items within each domain; possible scores ranged
from 0 to 16 on the KS (actual scores ranged from 6
to 16), from 19 to 95 on the AS (actual scores ranged
from 59 to 90), and from 41 to 205 on the PS (actual
scores ranged from 113 to 201). A two-way ANOVA
was used to test differences in the computed scores
among specialty, degree, and their interaction. The
scores were used in three separate regression models.
The following variables were considered as possible
confounders, and thus were kept in the model regardless
of significance: gender, degree, years of experience,
exposure to terminally ill patients, and
receiving continuing education (CE) in PC. Specialty
was entered in the model as five dummy variables
with medical specialty as the reference. Interactions
between specialty and degree were tested, and, if
they were not significant, they were removed. The
model fit was assessed using the R2
. The data were
analyzed using SPSS 15, and all tests were carried
ou