Death is an inevitable part of life, affecting families, friends, and communities in profound ways. However, bereavement support can fall short for people from diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. The NIHR, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Care, funds “Equitable Bereavement Care for All” to improve services for all communities.
Published: 10 July 2024
Improving the bereavement experiences of people from all ethnicities
Death is a fact of life. It has an impact on loved ones, family members, friends, neighbours and frontline staff in their line of duty. The NHS and many established charities have been offering support - both practical and emotional - for years. But these services don’t work the same for all ethnicities, religions and cultures. If services are not right for you and your family, it can feel like hitting a brick wall, and you’re not likely to find out until you are in desperate need.
This is what happened in 2021, when Sabrina’s brother died unexpectedly. After his death, Sabrina tried to access bereavement services which met the cultural and religious needs of three generations of her devastated British Pakistani family.
Sabrina, Dr Sabrina Bajwah, is an NHS consultant working at King’s College Hospital in London with a special interest in racial equality research who brought her personal lived experience of racial inequality in health and bereavement care into her work.
With Dr Catriona Mayland, Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, at the University of Sheffield, Dr Sabrina Bajwah is now jointly leading ‘Equitable Bereavement Care for All’, a study that aims to understand the direct experiences and needs of people from ethnically diverse communities.
The NIHR, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Care, funds ‘Equitable Bereavement Care for All’ to understand the challenges faced by people from ethnically diverse communities when accessing bereavement support services and what changes are needed.
Dr Sabrina Bajwah found in her research that end-of-life care during the COVID pandemic was the same for everyone, but didn’t work for everyone, leading to patient distress. Dr Catriona Mayland’s review of bereavement care for those from ethnically diverse communities showed a real lack of research in this area. “As a society we need to understand more about the role of family and community support so we can design services to support unmet needs”, says Dr Catriona Mayland. “Bereavement support services reach fewer than 1 in 20 people who come from an ethnically diverse community. It is important to understand why support services are not reaching these individuals, and what services can do better.”
The study, now conducting interviews and focus groups with bereaved people from ethnically diverse communities, will create a meaningful film and work with the Department of Health and Social Care to form policy recommendations and changes to help improve support services.
“We genuinely want to be able to facilitate a way for voices to be heard and changes to arise. Grief has such a profound effect on both individuals and families”, says Dr Sabrina Bajwah. “By directly working with the Department of Health and Social Care, our study findings will directly feed into government policy recommendations. This research will be a major step forwards in making things better for families like mine in the future.”
‘Equitable Bereavement for All’ is recruiting participants in a number of different ways; for example through local community groups in Sheffield, London, Leicester and Luton. Additionally, the study offers some members of these groups training in research methods so they can directly conduct the interviews and group discussions with bereaved people. The final aim is to support and train communities to lead future research in areas which are important. The study has been successful in recruiting through social media, charitable organisations and local networks.