1. Poverty, choice and dying in the UK: a call to examine whether public health approaches to palliative care address the needs of low-income communities.
- Author
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Hansford, Lorraine, Thomas, Felicity, and Wyatt, Katrina
- Subjects
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HEALTH services accessibility , *PUBLIC health , *COMMUNITIES , *PATIENTS' attitudes , *SOCIOECONOMIC disparities in health , *HEALTH attitudes , *POVERTY , *HEALTH equity , *ATTITUDES toward death , *PALLIATIVE treatment , *MEDICAL needs assessment , *COVID-19 pandemic , *HEALTH promotion - Abstract
People living on a low income are less likely to access palliative care in the UK; however, beyond the statistics, little is known about the impact of poverty on attitudes towards death and experiences of dying and bereavement. Covid-19 has disproportionally affected poorer communities and foregrounded issues of social and health inequalities including experiences of loss and grief. Whilst this might suggest an opportune moment for embracing inclusive health-promoting approaches to palliative care, this paper argues that the centrality of concepts such as choice within such approaches, and assumptions about what constitutes a 'good death', disregard the ways in which structural, social and economic aspects of poverty interface with attitudes towards and experiences of dying, and may exacerbate inequalities in death and dying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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