'Bearing Pain Is Easier than Living with Loneliness'Migrants at the End-of-Life: Perceptions of Hospice Volunteers

摘要

Background: End-of-Life care of migrants in Germany is poorly examined; it can be assumed that they are underserved by health care providers. This study describes the situation of East-Asian migrants based on the experiences of hospice volunteers.Methods: 16 structured interviews of hospice volunteers were carried out and evaluated by qualitative content analysis. All interviewed hospice volunteers have migration background and have been caring for a total of 92 patients with East Asian origin.Results: We found 5 main categories describing the situation of the patients: Home, Medical Care, Social Networks and Family, Religion and Spirituality and Communication. Subcategories give more precise information for each category. In particular, food, loneliness and pain were the main topics and were overlapping over categories. Discussion: Besides the known fields of lack of interpreters and limited access to the End-of-Life care, the results show specific examples of how care for migrants can be improved by palliative and hospice providers. Flexibility regarding food supply, building networks with local migrant communities and differentiated pain assessment are important issues in the transcultural care of East Asian patients.