From: Palliative care research utilising intersectionality: a scoping review
Author and year of publication | Country | Research type | Research Design | Participants | Research Question or Aim | How researcher(s) defines and understands intersectionality |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baskaran & Hauser (2022) [50] | Nepal | Qualitative | Semi-structured interviews (n = 29) | 29 participants including LGBQTI + palliative patients (n = 8), health professionals (n = 5), administrators (n = 14), community or family (n = 2) | Explores LGBTQI + experiences in hospice and palliative care provided by Blue Diamond Society (NGO which provides a hospice and palliative program for the LGBQTI + community) | Did not define. Identified as a theme in findings. Related intersectionality to experience of participants – intersectionality between their gender/sexuality, culture and the environment |
Dworzanowski-Venter, B. (2017) [51] | South Africa | Qualitative | Interviews (n = 19) conducted between 2005–2013 | Black male caregivers (n = 5, 2005 & 2010; n = 1 2013), female caregiver (n = 1 2013) and a supervisor (n = 1 2013) from a home-based care provider. Oncology nurses of both genders (n = 8 2006; n = 2 female 2010) from hospital setting | How can the intersection of gendered work norms and class status shape the masculine identities of black caregivers in South Africa? Does class impact on gendered work and social norms regarding feminization of care work? | Draws on previous work (Folbre, 2016) that illuminates the dynamic nature of class-gender intersectionality. Recognises the debate of using intersectionality as an analytical tool – and the care to avoid reinforcing and perpetuating oppression for certain groups. Reinforces the need for researchers to be reflexive and aware of the potential bias related to their privilege |
Giesbrecht et al. (2012) [52] | Canada | Qualitative | Secondary analysis of semi-structured (n = 50) phone interviews | Front-line palliative care providers (n = 50) across the 5 provinces of Canada | To explore how frontline palliative care providers understand diversity of family caregivers and how this shapes their end-of-life caregiving experience in Canada. Consider the implications to current health and social policy aimed at supporting family caregivers | Bases analysis on previous work (Hankivsky, 2009). Sees intersectionality as an approach to consider simultaneous interactions between different aspects of social identity, and the impact of systems and processes of oppression and domination. Authors use intersectionality grounded in lived experience with the aim to pursue social justice |
Giesbrecht et al. (2018) [53] | Canada | Qualitative | Secondary analysis of 30 months of ethnographic fieldnotes | People experiencing structural vulnerability (n = 25), their support persons (n = 25) and formal service providers (n = 69) | To explore how places of formal healthcare settings shape access to and experience of palliative care for people who are structurally vulnerable | Identifies intersectionality as a critical theory which is concerned with simultaneous interactions between aspects of social difference and identity, forms of systemic oppression at micro and macro levels. These interactions are complex and interdependent |
Giesbrecht et al. (2015) [54] | Canada | Qualitative | Secondary analysis of ethnographic fieldnotes and semi structured interviews | Family caregivers (n = 13), care recipients (n = 3) and homecare nurses (n = 11) | What socio-environmental factors facilitate family palliative caregivers’ capacities for resilience in the home setting? | Sees intersectionality as a lens to recognise that human lives are complex cannot be reduced to singular identity categories or social locations. Identifies intersectionality as way to identify the multiple variables that impact on an issue and how they relate within specific contexts |
Hutson (2016) [55] | USA | Qualitative | Secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews | People with self-acknowledged diagnosis of HIV/AIDS (n = 9) | To explore the health access and end of life concerns for people living with HIV/AIDS in Appalachia, USA | Did not define. Identified intersectionality in findings of a participant’s lived experience related to multiple overlapping oppressions in their life |
Liu et al. (2020) [56] | USA | Qualitative | Secondary analysis using data from National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) linked with data from National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) | This study used data from Round 5 (conducted in 2015) and Round 7 (conducted in 2017) of NSOC. These participants are family members and others who provided unpaid care to the NHATS participants. N = 1206 caregivers | To explore the differences in caregiving burdens for people with dementia across the intersectionality of race and gender | Saw intersectionality as a framework to analyse the multidimensionality of lived experience for people who are marginalised. Also recognised that intersectionality provides a perspective to examine the interconnections of power and inequality |
Stajduhar et al. (2019) [57] | Canada | Qualitative | Analysis of ethnographic data (observations and interviews) collected over 30 months | People experiencing structural vulnerability (n = 25), their support persons (n = 25) and formal service providers (n = 69) | To explore issues and experiences of accessing palliative care for people experiencing life-limiting illness and structural vulnerabilities | Identified intersectionality as a lens of understanding to explore the complex, simultaneous and interdependent interactions between social difference and identity, forms of social oppression at micro and macro levels |
Suntai et al. (2023) [58] | USA | Quantitative | Analysis of Last-month-of-life interviews conducted in the year after a person dies from 2013 and 2020 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) | Person who was present in the final month before an individual died, who may be a family member, friend, or other relative (n = 914) | To examine the intersectional impact of race and gender on care quality at the end of life | Recognised intersectionality as a theory that sees membership to 2 or more vulnerable groups increases risk of hardship across a person’s life. Recognised that a person is the sum of all of their combined identities, however systems fail to recognise the uniqueness in experience of the intersection of identities |
Wilson et al. (2018) [59] | Canada | Qualitative | Three focus groups (6–9 participants in each) | People identifying as LGBQTI + (n = 23) | To understand the lived experience of older LGBQTI + individuals in the healthcare system in Ontario and to highlight their concerns associated with last stages of life | Did not define explicitly. Recognised that understanding the intersectionality and varying social locations for people is crucial to facilitate positive aging experiences and good end-of-life care |