'Heated political dynamics exist ...': examining the politics of palliative care in rural British Columbia, Canada.
Palliative care is delivered by a number of professional groups and informal providers across a range of settings. This arrangement works well in that it maximizes avenues for providing care, but may also bring about complicated 'politics' due to struggles over control and decision-making power. Thirty-one interviews conducted with formal and informal palliative care providers in a rural region of British Columbia, Canada, are drawn upon as a case study. Three types of politics impacting on palliative care provision are identified: inter-community, inter-site, and inter-professional. Three themes crosscut these politics: ownership, entitlement, and administration. The politics revealed by the interviews, and heretofore underexplored in the palliative literature, have implications for the delivery of palliative care. For example, the outcomes of the politics simultaneously facilitate (e.g. by promoting advocacy for local services) and serve as a barrier to (e.g. by privileging certain communities/care sites/provider) palliative care provision.
Crooks
Valorie A
VA
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Canada. crooks@sfu.ca
Castleden
Heather
H
Hanlon
Neil
N
Schuurman
Nadine
N
D001955:British Columbia; D003657:Decision Making; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D011057:Politics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012424:Rural Population