Toward Eliminating Hospice Enrollment Disparities among African Americans: A Qualitative Study

Over the past decade, scholars and practitioners have called for efforts to reduce disparities in the cost and quality of end-of-life care; a key contributor to these disparities is the underuse of hospice care by African American patients. While previous studies have often relied on interviewing minority individuals who may or may not have been terminally ill, among them only few who were using hospice care services, this essay reports the findings of a grounded theory analysis of interviews with 26 African American hospice patients (n = 10) and lay caregivers (n = 16). Participants identified several barriers to hospice enrollment and reported how they were able to overcome these barriers by reframing/prioritizing cultural values and practices, creating alternative goals for hospice care, and relying on information obtained outside the formal health system. Finally, participants offered suggestions for eliminating barriers and providing salient information about hospice care to other African Americans.