Palliative Care Services in Northern Cyprus -- Awareness Research

Palliative care services have not been developed in Northern Cyprus despite the increased incidence of cancer cases in recent years. The aim of this study is to measure the level of knowledge of the people living in country on palliative care services by conducting an awareness research. People who reside in Northern Cyprus have been surveyed via internet. The questionnaire included 10 questions about the palliative care services as well as the demographic information. Of the 150 participants who completed the questionnaire: 39% of the respondents stated that they did not know what palliative care is, and 69% stated that they did not know whether there is a palliative care center. 34% of the participants do not have any idea about the need for this service. These results emphasize that there is lack of palliative care services around country and that awareness should be raised. Increasing life-span in chronic diseases as well as in cancer cases increases the importance of palliative care together with developments in medicine. It is inevitable to create teams / centers working on this issue by adhering to sociocultural, economic and legal procedures.