Primary care staff’s willingness to participate in compassionate community network and palliative care and the barriers they face: a mixed methods study

Objectives Compassionate community models, successfully applied in several Western countries, have not been extensively promoted in Asian countries. This study explored primary care staff’s willingness to participate and factors associated with their participations in compassionate community education and network, palliative care education, providing palliative care and the barriers they faced. Methods Adopting a mixed quantitative–qualitative design, primary care staffs in Beitou and Shilin districts in Taiwan, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists and administrative staff aged ≥20 years who had worked in a clinic for more than 2 months, were recruited. A questionnaire survey was conducted to explore their willingness to participate in compassionate community education and networks and palliative care education and care provision. Logistic regression was used to evaluate factors associated with their willingness, and qualitative perceptions were evaluated by open questions. Results About half of the respondents were willing to participate in compassionate community education and network and palliative care education, but only 19.5% were willing to provide palliative care. Compared with other staff, primary care nurses showed significantly more willingness to participate in compassionate community education and network and palliative care education and to provide palliative care. However, physicians were significantly not willing to participate in any of the three services apart from providing care. Capability, administrative and manpower concerns, time, age and motivation were the main barriers. Conclusions To encourage primary care staff to participate more in compassionate community education and network and palliative care education and to provide palliative care, policymakers should pay more attention towards removing the barriers to their engagement.