Family care giving for Aboriginal peoples during end-of-life: Findings from the Northern Territory

Abstract

Although there is an extensive literature on the needs and experience of family caregivers for seriously ill people, there is a distinct lack of research articles on the specific topic of Aboriginal family caregivers. The lack of available information is a particular concern in view of the fact that a national survey on the social impact of caring for terminally ill people in Australia indicates that the experience for Indigenous Australian carers is fraught with challenges of distance, social isolation, poverty, and overcrowding, as well as different cultural needs. Thus, in order to begin to address the gap in knowledge the present article provides findings on family care giving for Aboriginal peoples from an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council two year study conducted in the Northern Territory.