Increasing access to palliative care for patients with advanced cancer of African and Latin American descent: a patient-oriented community-based study protocol.

Background: Cancer disparities are a major public health concern in Canada, affecting racialized communities of Latin American and African descent, among others. This is evident in lower screening rates, lower access to curative, and palliative-intent treatments, higher rates of late cancer diagnoses and lower survival rates than the general Canadian population. We will develop an Access to Palliative Care Strategy informed by health equity and patient-oriented research principles to accelerate care improvements for patients with advanced cancer of African and Latin American descent.

Improving access to palliative care for people experiencing socioeconomic inequities: findings from a community-based pilot research study.

Introduction: In Canada, people experiencing socioeconomic inequities have higher rates of late diagnosis and lower survival rates than the general population. Palliative care services focussed on this population are scarce. We developed a community-based nursing intervention to improve access to palliative care for people experiencing socioeconomic inequities and living with life-limiting illnesses in an urban Canadian setting.

Social disparities and symptom burden in populations with advanced cancer: specialist palliative care providers' perspectives.

Unlabelled: Disparities in access to palliative care services for populations with social disparities have been reported in Western countries. Studies indicate that these populations tend to report higher symptom distress than other population groups. We need to further investigate how social disparities influence symptom burden to improve symptom relief in these populations.