Breaking bad news. Consultations with ethnic communities

To record the attitudes of members of significant ethnic groups in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia, with regard to care and management of the terminally ill so as to offer some guidance to medical practitioners dealing with people from different ethnic communities.

A questionnaire was prepared and used in focused interviews with members of the Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Italian, German, Greek, Jewish, Macedonian, Muslim, Polish, Filipino, Russian, Samoan, South American, Ukrainian and Vietnamese communities in the Hunter area. Where possible a religious leader of each community was interviewed separately from the group. Where necessary an interpreter was used.

Length of residence in Australia, group cohesion within the ethnic community, religious affiliation, and socioeconomic background, affect the response of groups to the issues surrounding death and dying.

Even within groups which are perceived by outsiders as being strongly unified in their attitudes (such as Muslims) there may be variation in their expectations. So, while it is worth being informed of the sensibilities that have been expressed by migrant communities and to be aware of prescriptive religious practices, some variation and individual differences within ethnic groups can also be expected.