 Palliative 
Palliative care is often thought by patients and their families to mean imminent death, hospice care and end-of-life care. This social representation is one of the main barriers to referral to early palliative care at an earlier stage in the pathway of care of patients with advanced cancer. This paper is based on interviews with French advanced cancer patients and their family caregivers. It aims to describe patients’ and caregivers’ perceptions of palliative care, and the impacts of these perceptions on the pathway of care of patients. The paper reports on the lack of understanding of the goals of hospice palliative care. It shows that the close association between palliative care and end-of-life in the social representations is rooted in the history of the palliative care “movement,” but also in the health professionals’ representation and is ideologically driven (especially with the public debates on the issue of medical assisted suicide). The experience of palliative care provides patients and their family with in-depth knowledge of palliative care.