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.
Carey M, Mason K, Fox L, Moeke-Maxwell T, Gott M.
Background: Māori people in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia experience significant healthcare inequity as they age and towards the end of their lives. Compassionate community approaches to ageing and end-of-life care are increasing in popularity throughout the world. However, this approach has arisen from Eurocentric knowledge systems and not from First Nations people and their communities.
Objectives: This research aimed to gain insight into what the Compassionate Communities approach means for First Nations people and identify implications for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. A systematic literature review explored the intersection of Compassionate Communities and First Nations peoples' perspectives and needs. Addressing the overarching question of: What does the Compassionate Communities approach mean for older First Nations people?
Design: A Kaupapa Māori approach was used to answer the research question and to explore the literature retrieved.
Methods: The main literature search was conducted during 2020-2022, with subsequent searches in 2023 and a final search in 2025. The review was conducted in Covidence systematic review software following the PRISMA process. Screening was completed by two reviewers and assessed against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Kaupapa Māori theoretical questions were applied to each full-text article, with a rating of positive, neutral or negative allocated to establish conceptual alignment. NVivo thematic analysis software was utilised to code and explore themes.
Results: Fifty papers were imported into Covidence, with 22 studies included in the final review.
Conclusion: The review found minimal discussion about how Compassionate Communities approaches are implemented in a way that includes First Nations knowledges of ageing and end of life. There is a greater need to understand the contribution First Nations peoples' wellness philosophies make to the Compassionate Communities approach. Evaluations of Compassionate Community initiatives need to be more inclusive of First Nation peoples and their knowledges. In Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, more research is needed to understand pathways to well-being for older Māori people based upon existing community strengths to ensure flourishing futures. Addressing these knowledge deficits will support efforts to address the inequities experienced by First Nations people as they age and at the end of life.
Chaganti R, Ghasemzadeh M, Wong M, Hanson J.
Objective: Review outcomes for patients undergoing biliary drainage and stenting via percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography, drainage, and stenting (PTCDS) for malignant hilar biliary obstruction secondary to hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) tumors versus other tumor types, to identify factors which predict poor outcomes and assist discussions with patients and clinicians.
Methods: Retrospective search electronic medical records for adult patients who underwent PTCDS for malignant hilar obstruction. The primary endpoint was in-hospital bilirubin reduction, with secondary endpoints of progression to further systemic therapy, length of hospital stay, and overall survival from procedure date.
Results: Within the cohort of 50 patients, PTCDS led to a statistically significant reduction in bilirubin (p < 0.0001). The median overall survival was 81.9 days, with a median hospital stay of 11.5 days. Nineteen patients had further systemic therapy. There was no significant difference in bilirubin improvement between different cancer types, and bilirubin improvement was positively correlated with survival and with having further systemic therapy (p = 0.016). There was no significant difference in overall survival between patients with HPB cancers versus other cancers (p = 0.49). Background cirrhosis of the liver (p = 0.03) and the presence of more than one liver lesion (p = 0.02) independently negatively impacted survival. There was no impact of any covariate on the length of hospital stay.
Conclusion: PTCDS for malignant biliary obstruction has a beneficial role in the palliative management of cancer patients, but should only be pursued with very significant caution in those with background liver cirrhosis and in those with a large burden of hepatic disease.
Guo J, McErlean G, Ding J, Jiang S, Dai Y, Johnson CE.
Background: Identifying palliative care needs in older adults is challenging due to variations in the indicator focus, applicability, and sensitivity of existing instruments.
Aim: To systematically review the appropriate instruments for identifying potential palliative care needs in older adults and to assess their clinical performance and effectiveness.
Design: We conducted an umbrella review of systematic reviews that evaluated validated instruments for identifying palliative care needs in older adults across any healthcare setting (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42024616393).
Data sources: PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, CNKI, WangFang, and VIP databases were used to systematically search for published studies from their inception to October 2024.
Results: Eleven systematic reviews were included in this study and a total of 29 instruments were identified in the literature. Of these, eight provided data on clinical performance. The Surprise Question (SQ), Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT), Necesidades Paliativas (Palliative Needs) (NECPAL), and the Palliative Care Rapid Emergency Screening (P-CaRES) were the most frequently identified instruments in older adults. Findings regarding the prognostic capacity of these instruments were inconsistent across the reviews. While three reviews reported the effectiveness of these instruments, evidence on their impact remains limited.
Conclusion: The SPICT and NECPAL instruments have been implemented across diverse healthcare settings, including inpatient, outpatient, and general practice environments, demonstrating good sensitivity in their applications, while the P-CaRES is recommended for identifying palliative care needs in emergency departments. Future research should employ rigorous study designs to validate their effectiveness in enhancing patient-centered outcomes.
McCaffrey N, Engel L, Karnon B, Ratcliffe J, Hoefman R, Rand S, et al.
Objectives: Carer-specific preference-based instruments have been developed to capture outcomes for economic evaluations but the body of evidence has yet to be collated to guide instrument selection and identify knowledge gaps for future research. This scoping review aimed to identify carer-related, preference-based instruments and summarise and assess their performance, valuation and application. Nine databases (ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane, DARE, Econlit, EMBASE, iHTA, PsychINFO, Pubmed) were searched until 28th May 2025 to identify peer-reviewed, English-language articles about the development, validation, valuation and application of preference-based, carer-related instruments. Study characteristics, instrument descriptions, psychometric properties and valuation information were extracted. The body of evidence and reporting quality were assessed using CREATE and the ISOQOL minimum standards for patient-reported outcome measures. In total, 140 included articles reported on five instruments: the ASCOT-Carer; the CarerQol; the CES; the ICECAP-CPM; and the SIDECAR. All carer-specific, preference-based instruments have rigorously developed scoring algorithms, albeit for differing numbers of countries. All of the instruments, except the ICECAP-CPM, have some evidence of psychometric validity in varied populations, though information on responsiveness is limited. Broadly, the CarerQol, the longest established instrument, is the most widely validated, followed by the ASCOT-Carer and CES. The SIDECAR and ICECAP-CPM require further testing. The CarerQol has the most evidence for use in carers of children, the ASCOT-Carer for adult social care settings, the CarerQoL and CES for the palliative care setting, and the ASCOT-Carer, CarerQoL, and CES for mental illness, rheumatoid arthritis, long-term care, and dementia. The CarerQol, CES and ASCOT-Carer represent the most widely used instruments for measuring carer-related outcomes in economic evaluations. The review findings assist with selecting instruments for studies alongside research objectives, population and settings. Future research should explore the responsiveness of these instruments, validate them in different countries and carer populations, and develop country-specific scoring algorithms.
Butler C, Kissane D, Michael N.
Background: Rituals are a universal phenomenon in human culture, which act to support and process transitions and challenges. The objective of this integrative review was to synthesise the evidence for the types of rituals, whether traditional, religious or idiosyncratic, that are used by people witnessing or experiencing the dying process, as well as the specific elements and impacts of such activities.
Methods: This review used methodology proposed by Whittemore and Knafl9 and searched the following databases: Web of Science, Medline, PubMed, CINAHL and EMBASE. Articles were limited to qualitative and quantitative studies in English with keywords in the title or abstract and no limits on year of publication. Of the 482 studies identified, 34 were included and categorised as rituals conducted for patients, staff or patients and staff together. Data analysis involved deductive content analysis and a narrative approach to summarise the synthesised results.
Results: Two distinct ritual patterns that differed in purpose and impacts were identified: rituals within coherent religious or cultural frameworks and personally-derived idiosyncratic rituals. Traditional religious and cultural rituals supported passage from life to death and affirmed identity and belonging, while idiosyncratic rituals affirmed individuality and provided psychosocial and physiological support.
Conclusion: Rituals continue to be defined ambiguously and evolve organically to signify the significance of death. Rituals support a 'good death' as unification with a divine force or through honouring values of individualism, humanism and existentialism. The level of impact of rituals depends on conscious use of collectively understood symbolism for context and participants.
Last updated 30 April 2024