Palliative Care Cultural Resources

As a palliative care health professional education provider, we often come across some useful resources. Below are some curated palliative and end of life care services, and education providers and resources which may help enhance and support your palliative care practice and/or education. 

Cultural Resources.

Indigenous Ageing Well Research Team - UWA

The Indigenous Ageing Well Research team at UWA conduct collaborative health and wellbeing research with and for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Our resources, including the Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA) and the Good Spirit Good Life (GSGL) Quality of Life tool are available for free download from our website: https://www.iawr.com.au/gsgl.

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

The Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Portal is designed to assist the health workforce who provide care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their families and communities. It seeks to support both clinicians and policy-makers in accessing resources, research and projects on palliative and end-of-life care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care project is a collaboration between Palliative Care Australia and the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet with funding from the Australian Government.

CarerHelp -  LGBTIQ+ Resources.

There is a diversity of LGBTIQ+ life journeys, history, experience, and perspectives. This means that their carers can have unmet information needs.

CarerHelp has put together some resources that people who are LGBTIQ+, carers caring for someone who is LGBTIQ+ or support workers supporting LGBTIQ+ patients may find useful.

Aboriginal Palliative Care Project

The role of culture in palliative care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples builds on over 60 000 years of history and includes practices to support a good ‘Finishing Up’ ‘Going Home to Country’ ‘Sorry Business’ and ‘Going Home to Dreamtime’.  

Like Aboriginal view of health, palliative care embraces the physical, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of a patient and their family. It holistically focuses on quality of life to ensure the journey is one of comfort, dignity, cultural respect and honoured wishes. Aboriginal peoples have been delivering high quality care to sick community members for centuries but do not call it 'palliative care'.  
Our story started by WA services (WACHS, PASCE & IPEPA) joining forces to break down the barriers of palliative care for regional Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people in WA.  

It was observed that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in rural and remote WA are not accessing palliative care services, have limited knowledge of palliative care services and therefore not receiving the highest quality of care and support.  

This project is created with a grassroots approach. The aim for it to be led by regional Palliative Care Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer and local Aboriginal community members coming together to educate, consult, develop and produce a culturally appropriate, region specific palliative care resources with local mob.  

Palliative care education of our communities is critical to breaking down the systemic barriers to accessing palliative care and reducing the subsequent impact of loss, grief and trauma for our community. This project aims to create and develop a culturally appropriate Aboriginal Palliative Care Brochure for the local regions of Western Australia. This project is created with a grassroots approach with community for community.

Pilbara Resource:

South West Resource: