The following lists palliative care research primarily conducted by Australian research groups. The list is based on application of the CareSearch search filter for palliative care to identify articles held within the PubMed database and corresponding to the strongest evidence. Articles have been selected based on relevance and new articles are added on a weekly basis.
Whilst not an exhaustive list, the aim is to keep the community informed by providing a snapshot of recent research findings and planned studies in the Australian setting.
Dadich A, Rowley G, Ooi C, Eliott J, Laurence C.
Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to describe models of palliative care for under-served populations in high-income countries, defined as adults of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, low socioeconomic status, and/or residing in rural areas.
Introduction: Models of palliative care are processual, referring to the way palliative care services are delivered as people experience a condition, injury, or event. The aim of these models is to ensure people get the right care, at the right time, by the right team, in the right place. Evidence suggests there is a wide variety of models of palliative care, but what is not known is how these models can vary to meet the needs of under-served populations.
Inclusion criteria: This scoping review will consider articles that focus on models of palliative care for under-served populations, irrespective of sex, age, or primary diagnosis.
Methods: MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Emcare (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), and Scopus will be searched for articles, irrespective of language, published from 2014. Two independent reviewers will screen titles and abstracts, followed by a full-text review of potentially relevant articles. Discrepancies will be reconciled with another reviewer. Two independent reviewers will extract data from included articles using a data extraction tool developed for this review. Results will be tabulated and/or presented diagrammatically, as well as summarized to explicitly address the objective of the review.
Review registration: Open Science Framework osf.io/x4ky3.
Edwards CE, Mao L, Rhee J, Sinclair C.
Objectives: Examine how older adults with life-limiting conditions engage in meaning-making for coping and growth, and how individual needs and attributes shape these processes.
Method: An integrative review across health and psychosocial disciplines was conducted, incorporating qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method, and theoretical literature. Fifty-eight peer-reviewed records were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Results: Four interrelated themes were identified: (1) adjusting global meaning (e.g. core beliefs and purpose) helped buffer distress by aligning it with situational meaning. (2) Disrupted life trajectories compressed time for meaning-making; distress, rumination, and cognitive rigidity impeded integration, while social comparison and reminiscence supported adaptation. (3) Reminiscence, motivated by awareness of life’s finitude, supported identity continuity and psychological conflict resolution, though unresolved regrets could evoke existential distress. (4) Meaning-making was temporally integrative, connecting past experiences, present awareness, and anticipated futures; strategies such as positive reframing, acceptance, and legacy-making fostered coherence and hope.
Conclusion: Meaning-making in older adults with life-limiting conditions is a dynamic, temporally integrative process shaped by cognitive flexibility and adaptive strategies. Significant gaps remain, including limited research on cognitive decline, theoretical inconsistency, and poorly understood intervention mechanisms, which must be addressed to support quality of life, meaning-in-life, and dignity in later life.
Johnson K, Poudel A, Ayalew AA, Thepsourinthone J, Heer S, Morgan D, et al.
Context: Early identification of palliative care needs in primary care is increasingly recognized as essential, yet the implementation of screening tools remains inconsistent and challenging.
Objectives: To identify the implementation of screening tool protocols in primary care for early identification of patients with palliative care needs, and to describe enablers or barriers influencing their uptake and integration into routine practice. This review also sought to map the methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and screening measures employed.
Methods: This scoping review was guided by the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Literature was retrieved from the MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane databases, focusing on screening tools for early identification of palliative care needs in primary care. Articles published in English between January 2015 and March 2025 were included. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CIFR) was used as an overarching categorizing structure for synthesizing the identified barriers and facilitators.
Results: A total of 3,140 articles were identified, and 174 were included for full-text screening. In total, 25 studies were included in the review. The implemented tools varied in their application and integration within primary care settings. Key barriers to implementing palliative care screening protocols in primary care included time constraints, doubts about the tool's value, limited resources, poor communication, unfavorable funding models, and sociocultural attitudes toward palliative care. Facilitators included integration with electronic health records, the presence of clinical champions, early reframing of palliative care, clearly defined roles, and tailored training initiatives.
Conclusion: Implementation of screening tools in primary care remains challenging due to contextual, organizational, and individual-level factors. Successfully embedding these tools into practice requires tailored context-sensitive strategies that are co-designed with interprofessional communication and informed by the principles of implementation science.
Aakataa M, Khalil H.
Background: Palliative care requires timely and accurate assessment to support patient-centred outcomes. However, existing tools vary widely in purpose, design, and implementation. Understanding the current landscape of available tools is essential to guide future innovation. This review aimed to systematically identify and map published literature on palliative care assessment tools, focusing on their purpose and domains assessed, with consideration of reported validation, usability, and implementation characteristics.
Methods: Scoping review conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and reported according to the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library were searched for peer-reviewed studies published in English from 2005 to 2024. Studies were included if they assessed tools used in palliative care populations for symptom assessment, quality of life, early identification, psychosocial evaluation, or caregiver support. Study screening, data extraction, and synthesis were completed in Covidence.
Results: A total of 299 studies from over 40 countries were included, representing 813,819 participants. The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (52.1%) was the most frequently used tool. Most tools focused on symptom assessment (27%) and quality of life (22%), with limited attention to caregiver burden (4%), spiritual wellbeing (4%), or social support (4%). Ninety-four studies (31%) reported positive perceptions of tool utility, and one reported a negative outcome. Key gaps included cultural adaptation, digital integration, multi-user access, and holistic scope.
Conclusion: Although many tools support clinical assessment, few address the complexity of holistic, person-centred care. There is an urgent need for co-designed, culturally sensitive, and digitally enabled tools to support equitable palliative care delivery.
Chen J, Cohen MS, Louis W, Decety J, Thomas EF, Crane M, et al.
Abstract: Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is gaining legal and social acceptance; yet it remains ethically controversial and challenging for healthcare professionals. This functional MRI study examines how social norms and empathy influence MAiD decisions in 59 Australian medical students while evaluating hypothetical assisted-dying scenarios. Participants’ decisions generally aligned with the legal framework. MAiD was approved when eligibility criteria were met (normative cases) and denied when they were not (nonnormative cases). Nonnormative scenarios elicited greater activation in frontoparietal brain regions involved in response selection and inhibition, consistent with increased decision difficulty. These scenarios elicited heightened activity in the precuneus, temporoparietal junction, and angular gyrus, along with stronger functional connectivity between the anterior hippocampus and the precuneus, suggesting greater reliance on memory retrieval and mentalizing. Normative scenarios were associated with increased amygdala activity, particularly among less religious participants, suggesting a role for negative affective salience. Greater activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and this region, suggest positive feelings related to compassion when a clinician can legally approve an assisted dying request. Normative scenarios were also associated with reduced connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, particularly in those with higher trait affective empathy, suggesting that doctors might feel a reduction in their patients’ pain. The findings provide the first empirical evidence of the neural mechanisms underlying decision-making in bioethical cases involving death as the outcome, highlighting distinct contributions and potential risk factors for medical practitioners in normative and nonnormative MAiD clinical situations.
Last updated 30 April 2024