Including LGBTQ+ perspectives in end-of-life care – Queering the death system

This project aims to create LGBTQ+ inclusive end-of-life (EoL) care using findings from the applicant’s Forte-funded postdoc research.

Despite advances in LGBTQ+ rights, inequities persist in EoL-care for LGBTQ+ people, driven by factors such as limited intergenerational social support, minority stress, and a lack of LGBTQ+ competency among care staff.

The concept of “queering the death system” refers to how LGBTQ+ people improve their own EoL experiences, for example by creating informal caring networks.

EoL-care staff can contribute to queering the death system by implementing LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care practices, yet research shows that they require support to do so.

This project responds to these societal needs by bringing together LGBTQ+ and EoL-care stakeholders to create partnerships, exchange knowledge, and implement LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care practices and education. “DöBra Rainbow Cafés” will serve as a platform for this work.

These cafés were initially developed as part of the applicant’s research to create LGBTQ+ community support around EoL issues.

In this impact project, cafés will be spaces in which LGBTQ+ and EoL-care stakeholders come together to develop LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care based on research in this field.

Two café-formats will be developed: group-format cafés focus on sharing experiences and developing inclusive practices, while roundtable-format cafés concentrate on policy change.

The cafés aim to create impact at three levels: personal/group (building partnerships, exchange knowledge, develop ideas for LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care), action-oriented (implementing LGBTQ+ EoL-care practices and education), and strategy-oriented (influencing policies).

By centering LGBTQ+ voices and using a participatory approach that focuses on resilience and action, the project addresses persistent inequities in EoL-care and aims to create long-term impact towards LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care.