Quality Healthcare at the End of Life

Dear Colleagues,

Palliative care is a crucial part of integrated, people-centered health services. It aims to relieve the suffering of patients due to life-threatening illness, whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual. Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients, as well as their informal caregivers. Each year, an estimated 56.8 million people, including 25.7 million in the last year of life, are in need of palliative care worldwide; however, only 14% currently receive it. There are several reasons for this: lack of awareness about what it is and what benefits it might offer, misconceptions about palliative care (such as that it is only for patients with cancer, or for the last weeks of life) and cultural and social barriers. Even in countries where the general level of palliative care is high, we often see that there is no equal access for all who need it. For example, people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health problems and people with an LGBTQIA+ background experience inequalities. Furthermore, due to new treatment modalities, the course of diseases, e.g., in the case of some cancers, is changing. This leads to new thoughts about palliative care.

The state of the art, as well as the need for (further) development in this rather young field relating clinical, research and policy aspects, is broad across countries. Considering the number of people who are in need of palliative care accompanied by this variety and inequalities, it is crucial that we share information, learn from each other and are able to contribute to the improvement of this area.

A public health approach to end-of-life care, viewing the community as an equal partner in providing quality healthcare at the end of life, is increasingly seen as necessary and helpful in the abovementioned challenges.

Therefore, we are pleased to invite you to share your research in palliative care with us regarding accessibility, equity and diversity, and awareness and public health.

In this Special Issue, we welcome original studies, qualitative, as well quantitative and mixed methods and (all kinds of) reviews.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Marieke M. Groot
Dr. Corine Nierop-van Baalen
Guest Editors

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• palliative care
• public health palliative care
• community care
• intersectionality
• education in end-of-life care
• living with cancer
• awareness