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Textbook of Palliative Care pp 1–13Cite as

End-of-Life Healthcare Experiences of Indigenous People and Ethnic Minorities: The Example of Canada

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Abstract

This chapter will explore understandings of culture, ethnicity, indigeneity, intergenerational trauma, and othering and how they relate to health outcomes, experiences with illness and death, accessing healthcare and palliative care, and patient/practitioner interactions predominantly in Canada. Discussions will define indigenous and ethnic minorities and examine the commonalities in health disparities experienced by both groups. Although commonalities will be discussed, they will be paired with the continual need to avoid “pan-Indigenous” or “pan-cultural” understandings that oversimplify the reality of diverse populations. Culture, spirituality, the desire to provide palliative care within the home and community, and subsequent barriers to doing so will be introduced. Though rumblings of culturally safe models of care continue to grow throughout the country, they are often overpowered by stories of mistreatment, discrimination, and colonial behaviors in the healthcare system. In an effort to overcome these barriers and provide the best possible end-of-life care to individuals, a brief overview of cultural safety and culturally safe models of palliative care will be introduced. Finally, recommendations and best practices are presented along with a case study highlighting the importance of patient/practitioner communication when offering culturally safe palliative care.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indigenous & Northern Health, Health Sciences North Research Institute, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Carrie Bourassa

  2. Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health, Canadian Institute of Health Research, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Carrie Bourassa

Authors
  1. Carrie Bourassa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carrie Bourassa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HammondCare Learning and Research Centre, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, New South Wales, Australia

    Roderick Duncan MacLeod

  2. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB-UGent End-of-Life Care Research Grou Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Lieve Van den Block

Appendix

Appendix

For further information regarding conversation on palliative care with Indigenous people, please see the Completing the Circle video series at https://www.youtube.com/user/EndofLifeCareProject.

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Bourassa, C. (2018). End-of-Life Healthcare Experiences of Indigenous People and Ethnic Minorities: The Example of Canada. In: MacLeod, R., Van den Block, L. (eds) Textbook of Palliative Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_65-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_65-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31738-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31738-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    End-of-Life Healthcare Experiences of Indigenous People and Ethnic Minorities: The Example of Canada
    Published:
    07 August 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_65-2

  2. Original

    End-of-Life Healthcare Experiences of Indigenous People and Ethnic Minorities: The Example of Canada
    Published:
    22 May 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_65-1

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