A Qualitative Assessment of African Americans' Knowledge,
Attitudes and Beliefs about Hospice Care In 2010, 1.58 million
patients received services from hospice in the United States; of
these patients only 8.9% were African American (African
Americans make up 12.6% of the US population), compared to 77.3%
Caucasians. The purpose of this study was to assess African
Americans’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about hospice care.
Three 3 focus groups were conducted with a total of 27 people
participating (12 males and 15 females).All focus groups were
audio taped and transcribed. Transcripts were coded using an
apriori coding scheme and entered into an Excel file. Consensus
and triangulation methods were used to help investigators assess
themes based on strength within and across focus groups. Five
major themes emerged: 1) knowledge of hospice 2) attitudes and
beliefs 3) decision making process 4) barriers to hospice use
and 5) raising awareness about hospice in the African American
community. This study support