Reference no: EM133623416
Case Study: Culturally Sensitive Palliative Care
Palliative care takes a team-based approach to help people with serious illnesses manage their symptoms and pain. The focus of palliative care is on the quality of life of the patients and their care partners. The palliative care team consists of a range of professionals such as physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, counselors, and social workers. The coordination of palliative care is based on the assessment of physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of the person, and it can be provided at any point during the illness (American Psychological Association 2019).
Many older adults in need of long-term care have to stay in control of their symptoms and pain, and therefore they can greatly benefit from palliative care. The increased demand for long-term care, including palliative care, as the US population ages also creates a greater demand for culturally sensitive palliative care to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse older population.
Palliative care is based on the person's subjective assessment of pain and other quality of life issues that are shaped by one's cultural beliefs and practices. For example, there is substantial cultural variation in how people express and communicate their pain with healthcare professionals. Some cultures tend to be very stoic with regard to paid and discourage people from admitting it to others. People with limited language proficiency may also experience difficulty in expressing their pain to healthcare providers who do not understand their language of culture (Givler et al. 2022).
The palliative care program in Los Angeles, California, called lyashi (the Japanese word meaning "to heal") is an example of a culturally sensitive palliative care program - in this case, one specifically tailored for Japanese Americans and Japanese older adults (Keiro 2022). Iyashi provides a team-based outpatient program that includes a wide range of services such as 24/7 telephone support, pain and symptom management and consultation, emotional and spiritual support, and home safety evaluation. These services are available with Japanese language support as needed. The providers are also familiar with Japanese cultural values that often praise endurance through difficult times (gambaru) and accept the current situation as something beyond their control (shikata ga nai).
Given that the older population is becoming increasingly diverse culturally, there is a great need for palliative care programs that are sensitive to older adults' values and preferences so that their pain and symptoms are properly managed in the way that is more suitable for them.
1. What is palliative care, and how is it important for older adults with long-term care needs?
2. Why is it important to provide culturally sensitive palliative care?
3. What should be provided as culturally sensitive palliative care for older adults with chronic health.