Olfactory-Related Quality of Life After Endoscopic Transsphenoidal Surgery.

The construct of refers to the understanding of death and dying, in addition to the skill set that enables people to access, interpret, and act on end-of-life and death-care options. Engaging in open discussions about death and dying has been shown to positively influence individuals’ attitudes toward death and dying. There is a need for community and clinical education surrounding death and dying, including how to initiate a conversation on end-of-life care. Park et al. described the progress made towards this goal in Australia, with peak health and social care bodies (i.e., Services Australia, the Australian Seniors) developing a range of resources to provide practical guidance on steps to take when someone dies at home. Other aged care agencies, such as Hammond Care, as well as general health information services like Healthdirect, are providing education on how to prepare for the death of a loved one, and what to expect during the dying process. There is some limited coverage of death and dying in tertiary health-professional training and ongoing clinician education. Despite growing public awareness and increased access to resources, death literacy in Australia and globally remains low among the general population and health professional samples. Global health agencies echo these concerns. The World Health Organisation reports that the need for palliative care is rising rapidly due to ageing populations and the increasing prevalence of chronic, life-limiting illness, yet most people worldwide lack the knowledge or confidence to access appropriate end-of-life care. International evidence further demonstrates that low levels of public preparedness, limited understanding of palliative and end-of-life care, and discomfort discussing death are not unique to Australia. Population-level surveys across high-income countries consistently show low engagement with end-of-life planning and limited knowledge of available care options. For example, A United Kingdom-wide survey of 8,077 adults found that although nearly 90% believed end-of-life planning was important, yet only 14% had made any formal plans. The Death Literacy Index (DLI) has been applied internationally to assess knowledge, skills, and engagement related to end-of-life care across populations, providing empirical support for its use across diverse populations and settings, including study designs comparable to the present research. In the UK, the DLI was examined in a large cross-sectional online survey of a nationally representative panel of 41,000 participants. Participants were recruited via an online crowd-sourcing platform and sampled to reflect age, sex, and ethnicity in alignment with Office for National Statistics data. This study established the psychometric properties of the DLI, including structural validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and interpretability. It also enabled the development of population-level benchmarks, confirming it as a reliable measure for researchers and practitioners. In cross-sectional research, benchmarking against established reference values provides a means of contextualising findings, allowing observed scores to be interpreted relative to broader population norms. This approach supports descriptive analyses by identifying potential areas of relative strength or deficit within the study sample, while acknowledging inherent limitations in population comparability, particularly when applied to defined professional cohorts such as allied health clinicians.