for neonatal and paediatric healthcare professionals

PARENTAL SUPPORT | VOLUME 20 ISSUE 6/NOVEMBER 2024

Informing culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care: Focus on communication

Following on from the first in the series on informing culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care in Infant journal,¹ which focused on how bereavement support is provided on neonatal units, this article will focus on how neonatal teams communicate with bereaved parents. Communication underpins every element of neonatal palliative care, with good communication with parents and families at the core of high quality support.² How information is presented and discussed and the ability to understand and empathise with a variety of cultural practices and beliefs is an important part of bereavement care, applying to the multidisciplinary team antenatally and perinatally.²

Marie Clancy
Senior Lecturer in Nursing, Academy of Nursing, University of Exeter

Felicity Thomas
Professor in Culture and Health Inequalities, Department of Health and Community Sciences, Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, University of Exeter

Hayley Redman
Research Assistant, Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, University of Exeter

Hannah Fowke Doyle
Practice Development Junior Sister, Neonatal Unit, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Edward Gasiorowski
Consultant Neonatologist and Neonatal Palliative Care Lead, Neonatal Unit, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

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Keywords

neonatal palliative care; communication; translators; interpreters; language barriers

Key points

Neonatal services and neonatal palliative care rely on good communication between families and healthcare professionals.
Language barriers can produce inequitable care.
Although interpreters play a vital role in enabling communication with culturally diverse families, there are concerns about whether they are adequately trained, resourced and prepared to work in the neonatal environment.
Informal interactions can play a critical role in enhancing family wellbeing.
Staff often adopt innovative and creative strategies to communicate with families when there is a language barrier.

Also published in Infant:

VOLUME 20 ISSUE 5/SEPTEMBER 2024

Informing culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care: Focus on bereavement

Each year around 2,000 babies in England and Wales will require a palliative approach to care. While the need to provide compassionate care to culturally diverse families has been noted, there remains a distinct lack of evidence base to guide culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care. To address this gap, this research project brought together perspectives and expertise from nursing, applied social science, palliative care, health systems research and migration studies. In doing so, it provides important transdisciplinary insights into the experiences of culturally diverse families requiring neonatal palliative care, as well as insights into the challenges facing neonatal palliative care providers. In this series of articles that will be published in Infant in succession, three key themes that emerged from the research findings will be discussed: Bereavement, communication and divergence of belief. Each article ends with a set of questions intended to support reflective practice. These questions were developed through two workshops with multidisciplinary professionals working in neonatal palliative care. Those involved included a neonatal consultant, a bereavement midwife, an advanced neonatal practitioner, a practice development nurse in neonatal care, a regional neonatal lead nurse and a chaplain. Participants came from diverse areas across England offering regional insights.

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