Current Trends in Online Palliative Care Messaging Practices: A Qualitative Analysis (Sci220).

1. Summarize current practices in messaging palliative care services to online readers. Like the general public, people with serious illness increasingly rely on the Internet for health information. Therefore, it is important for palliative care teams to consider carefully the information and messaging they include on their team websites and how they contribute to the brand of palliative care. To identify common themes in how palliative care teams describe themselves to the public and potential referring providers online. We conducted a qualitative study using thematic analysis to identify frequent themes. A purposive sampling approach—criterion and quota sampling—were used to generate a sample of palliative care team websites operated by hospitals, hospice organizations, and other community organizations (eg, home health agencies). Website text was coded using Atlas.ti and analyzed to produce thematic statements. The thematic analysis generated three themes describing how palliative care teams explain their services online: underscoring palliative care's similarities to hospice, highlighting the patient as an individual, and emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of palliative care. Teams highlighted key aspects of palliative care as well as its resemblance to hospice. By comparing palliative care to hospice, websites may inadvertently encourage misperceptions of palliative care and its target population. Future research should expand to include pediatric palliative care websites and other forms of communication in order to refine messaging practices further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]