Reviewing Palliative Care Services: One Boring Story!

Abstract

While undertaking an in-depth ethnographic research project to fulfill the reqiuirements of a PhD, I met a woman who I call Joan. Joan and seven other people with life limiting diagnoses became my research participants and allowed me to accompany them on their journey from diagnosis to the end of life. This presentation will map their journeys and consider the choices they made along the way. Who had treatment, who didn’t, and why? I will consider how they were supported in their journey, what made it easier or more difficult, and what did they need to die comfortably? I will consider how their identity was transformed, how they became enculturated into the medical system, and the role that cultural identity played in their dying.