"Stop Imposing on Us": A Critical Examination of Ethnocultural Considerations in the Canadian Volunteer Hospice Palliative Care Landscape

J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care. 2024 Feb 28:1-16. doi: 10.1080/15524256.2024.2321522. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTVolunteers are foundational in hospice programs. The purpose of this research was to address social, ethnic and demographic changes in Southwestern Ontario and understand how this may affect volunteer recruitment, and representation. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with hospice volunteers, key informants from leaders in ethnocultural communities, and hospice staff. Qualitative data from the interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis in five phases. Findings suggest ethnocultural interpretations of hospice can be very different than Westernized, Eurocentric ideas around end-of-life care. Systemic and structural barriers, information sharing, volunteer motivation and representation were found to influence and impact ethnocultural volunteer recruitment in hospice palliative care. Using a critical analysis allows us to identify the "imposition" of a Euro-ethnocentric hospice palliative care model that prevents recruitment of and impedes access of ethnocultural groups to hospice palliative care. To build bridges across predominantly White/Western models of care to ethnocultural racialized communities requires constant communication, relationship building, and determination in mutuality of learning on behalf of the dominant model. This research has implications for different regions of Canada providing hospice palliative care and hoping to increase e...
Source: Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Source Type: research