End-of-life care of Aboriginal peoples in remote locations: language issues

• Pam McGrath, Hamish Holewa
• International Program of Psycho-Social Health Research

06 July 2007To date, there is scant research literature that explores the provision of end-of-life care to
Aboriginal peoples in Australia. In particular, there is a lack of published research available
on issues at the interface of Aboriginal languages and English during palliative care. The
complexity and importance of the issue for palliative care provision, however, is demonstrated
by the fact that in Australia, Aboriginality is itself a very broad category, containing many
distinct language groups and subcultures. Thus, although to date there is some mention of the
problems associated with language in the literature, there is scant research on the topic of the
provision of palliative care to Aboriginal peoples in remote areas. The following findings from
a recent two-year National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) study are provided
to address this hiatus. The findings provide insights on the impact of language difference on
palliative care practice for Aboriginal peoples in the Northern Territory of Australia.