Identifying patient-centered communication barriers in palliative care.

Abstract

Objective: To identify patient-centered communication barriers among palliative care patients and to explore their relationship with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 124 patients hospitalized in the palliative care clinic of a state hospital. Data were collected using the Sociodemographic Data Form and the Patient-Centered Communication Barriers Scale. Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and multiple linear regression analysis were used for statistical analysis.

Results: Analysis showed that the presence of a caregiver was significantly associated with lower levels of insecurity (β = -0.542, p = 0.022, 95% CI [-1.001, -0.081]), explaining 7.6% of the variance in insecurity (Adjusted R2 = 0.076). However, the association between caregiver presence and perceived prejudice was not statistically significant (β = 0.202, p = 0.08).

Conclusion: The findings indicate that palliative care patients experience notable communication barriers, particularly related to insecurity. Structured caregiver involvement may help reduce insecurity-related communication barriers and support more effective patient-centered communication in palliative care settings.