Search results for ‘Subject term:"palliative care"’ Sort:
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Improving the quality of palliative care
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Publisher:
- Race Equality Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2007
- Pagination:
- 6p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
This is the first in a series of Better Health Briefing papers as part of the Improving health and social care services provision to black and minority ethnic communities project. In this paper Yasmin Gunaratnam examines access, use and understanding of palliative care amongst black and minority ethnic people and the professionals who refer patients to this service.
Where is the love? Art, aesthetics and research
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Practice, 21(3), November 2007, pp.271-287.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This paper discusses the use of different forms of artistic representation (poems, images, music, literature) to convey research findings. It theorises creativity as emerging from the precarious interplay between external and internal worlds that can surprise and demand invention and representation. Using examples from palliative care and ideas from post-structuralism and psychoanalytic aesthetics, the article examines the form and content of art works as encounters and events which can 'make way' for what is beyond immediate recognition and experience, both how things 'might be' and the 'not yet'. The author suggests that artistic representations can involve an emotional, sensual and corporeal opening out to others that involves the suspension of intellect. It is argued that art can touch people and convey complex and incoherent notions of difference and otherness, precisely because of its ambiguities and insecurities of meaning. This ambiguity means that the lived experience of public presentation through and with art is always a gamble, based on risk and vulnerability for both the presenter and the audience. The basis of this mutual vulnerability is seen as productive and connective.
Ethnicity, older people and palliative care
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Publisher:
- National Council for Palliative Care
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 32p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
One of the first reports in the UK to draw much needed attention to the palliative care needs and experiences of minority ethnic older people. The report discusses ethnic disparities in health and clinical outcomes, highlights evidence suggesting poorer access to palliative care services for minority ethnic older people and draws attention to good practices and projects in the palliative care field aimed at reducing inequalities in palliative care. The hope is that this publication will generate greater awareness and discussion of the issues addressed and help palliative care services to develop innovative approaches to addressing the palliative care needs of minority ethnic older people.
Cultural vulnerability and professional narratives
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, 7(4), October 2011, pp.338-349.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia
This article draws upon narratives of intercultural care with palliative care professionals in the United Kingdom. A persistent theme from these narratives is the emotional and ethical intensity and challenges of providing intercultural care. The article proposes a new way of approaching these challenges through a stance of ‘cultural vulnerability’. Cultural vulnerability recognises the reality, but also the ethical value, of uncertainty and not-knowing in care. The article shows how a focus on culture as different can induce anxieties among professionals, leading to depersonalised care. Anti-oppressive practice can also have unintended effects, with awareness of racism and oppression generating feelings of guilt and shame among practitioners. The article specifically includes excerpts from narratives from 3 hospice social workers which discuss their experiences of complicated ethical and emotional relationships in intercultural palliative care. Attentiveness to professional narratives is advocated as vital in the development of greater understanding of cultural vulnerability and its effects.
Care, artistry and what might be
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Journal article citation:
- Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, 1(1), June 2008, pp.9-17.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article provides a critical examination of cultural competence approaches, using the findings of a development project in the black voluntary sector that aimed to increase awareness of palliative care amongst older people and carers from groups most commonly referred to in the UK as being 'minority ethnic'. The project involved narrative interviews with a convenience sample of 33 older people and carers and 11 focus groups with a convenience sample of 56 health and social care professionals. The findings from the interviews suggest that assumptions about culture and about care as competence that inform cultural competence models can have significant drawbacks for both service users and health and social care professionals. The article further argues that cultural competence fails to fully recognise illness and care as occasions marked by profound moral and ethical demands.
A sweeter palliative
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 28.09.06, 2006, pp.36-37.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
This article discusses findings from a new project on experiences of life-limiting illness and care among minority ethnic elders, carers and health and social care professionals. The project used narrative interviews with older people, carers and health and social care professionals to gather stories about how old age, ethnicity, culture and faith can affect experiences of life-limiting illness and care. It highlights the ways in which social work can support the care choices of older people from ethnic minorities.
Cultural vulnerability: a narrative approach to intercultural care
- Author:
- GUNARATNAM Yasmin
- Journal article citation:
- Qualitative Social Work, 12(2), 2013, pp.104-118.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article uses analysis of focus group discussions with palliative care professionals in the United Kingdom to discuss the value of a stance of cultural vulnerability in intercultural social work. Interviews were carried out with older people and carers from racialized minorities (n=33) and health and social care professionals (n=56). The main professional groups interviewed were nurses (n=30) and social workers (n=16). Cultural vulnerability recognizes mutual vulnerabilities in caring relationships. The meanings and potential of cultural vulnerability are explicated through an in-depth case study analysis of a group interview with hospice social workers. Narrative methods are advocated as a resource in supporting practitioners to recognize cultural vulnerability and to work with indeterminacy and difficult emotions. The representation and role of cultural knowledge and racism in social work narratives is given specific attention. (Edited publisher abstract)