End-of-Life Care During Natural Disasters

This study utilised a qualitative, exploratory design [30 ] to examine healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the impact/s of natural disasters on end-of-life care. Participants were recruited through social media, Facebook, and Linkedin, emails to end-of-life care services listed on the Palliative Care Australia website, and through snowball sampling. For inclusion in the study, participants needed to be aged 18 years and over and have had recent experience in the provision of end-of-life care during a natural disaster, COVID-19, bushfire, or flood. In-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken by MK, an experienced qualitative researcher and counsellor, between February 2021 and June 2021. Sampling ceased when no new information was being generated in the interviews with regards to the themes identified here. Interviews ranged from 51 to 94 min, averaged 69 min, and were conducted in person (n = 2), online via Zoom (n = 5), or by telephone (n = 3) according to participants’ preference and capacity within the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants read and signed an informed consent form prior to the interview and received an AU$20 online gift card in recognition of their time.
The interview schedule was prepared during a series of discussions between the project team consisting of doctors, psychologists, and end-of-life care researchers. The questions were pilot tested, and the interview guide was refined to include emerging themes. Refer to Supplementary file 1 for the interview guide. No concerns arose during the pilot interview, so it was included in the final analysis. Open ended interview questions included ‘Tell me about your experience with a recent disaster’, and ‘Tell me how the disaster impacts on your role, your clients and the services you provide’. Follow-up questions were used as prompts during the interviews to explore the experiences of end-of-life service providers. The study was approved by the Australian National University Human Research Ethics Committee (2020/378). The reporting of this study is in accordance with the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) checklist [31 ].