Raising hospice awareness by use of incidental advertising in community newspapers

Over the next 20 years the influx of aging baby boomers will have a critical impact on our society in terms of end-of-life care. Aging individuals and their families must be able to make informed and appropriate decisions for an integrated and compassionate model of care as end of life approaches. Hospice and palliative care fit this model. An awareness of this service must first exist to form the basis of necessary healthcare decisions which is crucial in the process of making informed decisions. Attention to end-of-life issues can be the result of a direct marketing campaign but more often invades us indirectly by way of incidental advertising. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of local newspapers as a communication vehicle for hospice awareness and its relationship to hospice growth in certain target populations across the United States. Such information may prove useful in marketing hospice as the optimal choice for comprehensive end-of-life care.