Providing Specialised Palliative Care to Families With Ethnic Minority Background: Perspectives,Experiences,and Approaches

Abstract

This study aimed to contribute to an understanding of how culturally responsive palliative care can be supported, explored through perspectives of palliative care specialists. In interviews, participants described good end-of-life trajectories as including patient autonomy, withdrawal of medically futile treatments, and symptom control. Participants experienced that these ideals were sometimes challenged in clinical encounters with patients and their caregivers with ethnic minority backgrounds. Participants described such encounters as ethically and communicatively complex, leading to fear of transgressing patient boundaries, frustration, and compromised trust in family–provider relationships. These situations lowered the level of patient-centred care and resulted in decreased clinician confidence. While some participants employed informal strategies of cross-cultural palliative care, these were rarely grounded in formal training or guidelines. We therefore recommend the integration of ongoing cultural humility training into the education of palliative care professionals to better support equitable and responsive care in diverse clinical settings.