The Last Aid Course and Minorities Need for Cultural Adaptation – A Pilot Project for German and Danish Minorities across the Border

Aims: Most people wish to die in their own home. Many need help and
support from family members or others in the last days. Last Aid course
gives citizens knowledge about options of how to support the dying and
they learn what they can do themselves. The overall goal of the project is to
form a cross-border network to discuss cultural differences in relation to
care and nursing at the end of life and discuss how these differences can be
included in the last aid course for minorities at both sides of the boarder.
Methods: Three one-day workshops are planned for people from a variety
of different organizations, nationalities and diverse cultural and religious
backgrounds. During the workshops the participants will follow a
last aid course and afterwards focus group discussions will be performed.
The focus group discussions will be transcribed verbally and shall be analyzed
based on interpretive description. Cooperation partners are the
Medical Research unit in Sonderborg Denmark, the Katharinen Hospice
in Flensburg Germany, Letzte Hilfe Deutschland gUG Germany and Dansk
Folkehjælp Denmark. The project is funded by INTERREG,the South
Jutland Hospital and the Katharinen Hospiz Flensburg.
Results: During the first contacts and the projects kick-off meeting in
February the important role of cultural issues in end-of-life care and palliative
care provision became evident. The results from the workshops
and focus group discussions shall lead to cultural adjustments of the
existing first aid course to address the needs of people with different
cultural and religious backgrounds and minorities. Results from the project
will be used to establish a larger following project covering the
whole boarder region.
Conclusion: The project will contribute to;
i) more knowledge about end-of-life care in the public,
ii) improve palliative care provision,
iii) encourage the public discussion about death and dying,
iv) increase citizen participation.