Spiritual inclusiveness at end-of-life for Punjabi Indians: experience with Regional Residential Aged Care Facilities

ABSTRACT

This article draws on data generated from a wider study into experiences of the Punjabi Indians with palliative care services at regional residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in the Riverina region of New South Wales (NSW) Australia. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, group interviews with the Punjabi Indians and the care staff of RACFs reveal a perceived substandard quality of psychosocial care, one that overlooks religious and spiritual aspects for service users. The findings of this study highlight the importance of restoring the balance between biomedical and psychosocial-spiritual aspects of palliative care especially for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and faith groups, such as Punjabi Indians within the aged care sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Palliative Care
• Punjabi Indians
• Spirituality
• Residential Aged Care
• Regional

Acknowledgments

The authors are very thankful to the Punjabi Indians and the care staff participants for sharing their valuable time and views. This paper is an outcome of the doctorate research project titled ‘The Experience of Punjabi Indians with Palliative Care at Residential Aged Care Facilities: A Regional Perspective,’ which was accomplished with the support of Higher Degree Research Training Programme (RTP) by Commonwealth, Australia. The authors appreciate the assistance of Dr Jo Coghlan as a consultant at various stages of the doctorate research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics

Ethics approval was granted by the University of New England Human Ethics Committee (HE14-326) on 28 January 2015.

Notes

1. Placing these two religious groups together for the research was not a problem as Punjabi Hindu share more in common with a Punjabi Sikh than a Punjabi Hindu would with another Hindu from another part of India. See Nayar (2012), for more information on end of life care customs of Punjabi families.

2. In order to ensure confidentiality, all Punjabi Indian participants have been coded with the letter “P” (P1 to P16).

3. Testimonial Quietening occurs when a speaker from a marginalised group is not seen as a “knower” and the speaker’s testimony is subsequently dismissed by the dominant group. See Dotson (2011), for more information on Testimonial Quietening.

4. All care staff participants have been coded with the letter “N” (N1 to N11).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Higher Degree Research Training Programme (RTP) Commonwealth, Australia. This paper is an outcome of the doctorate research project titled ‘The Experience of Punjabi Indians with Palliative Care at Residential Aged Care Facilities: A Regional Perspective', which was funded by the Funder