Palliative care utilisation in migrant populations: protocol for a scoping review

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Migrant Health
• Palliative Care Research

Background:

• Migrants face significant structural barriers impacting health and healthcare access, particularly palliative care.
• Existing literature on palliative care for migrants is limited, often excluding refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers, and rarely considering intersectional factors.
• There is a need to understand palliative care utilization across diverse migrant populations, including those in low- and middle-income countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive scoping review of palliative care utilization in migrant populations.
• To map existing knowledge and identify gaps regarding palliative care access for migrants.
• To identify factors influencing palliative care utilization and examine the extent of intersectionality analysis in the literature.

Main Methods:

• Adherence to the Joanna Briggs Institute's scoping review framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
• Extensive literature search across academic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO) and grey literature up to July 2025.
• Thematic synthesis of findings, focusing on destination countries, migrant subgroups, and intersectional factors, with data extraction by two independent reviewers.

Main Results:

• The review will synthesize findings on palliative care utilization among various migrant groups.
• It will identify key facilitators and barriers to palliative care access for migrants.
• The extent to which intersectional factors are considered in palliative care research for migrants will be determined.

Conclusions:

• This scoping review will provide a comprehensive overview of palliative care utilization in migrant populations worldwide.
• Findings will inform future research, policy, and practice to improve equitable access to palliative care for all migrants.
• The study highlights the importance of considering diverse migrant experiences and intersectional factors in healthcare delivery.