Dados do Trabalho

Título

WHO ATTENDS LAST AID COURSES IN GERMANY AND BRAZIL?

Introdução

Introduction: The concept of Last Aid courses for the public was first described by Bollig in 2008. (1) Last Aid courses aim at introducing the public to palliative care and to empower citizens to participate in the provision of end-of-life care at home. The Last Aid course curriculum consists of four modules and covers the following themes: care at the end of life, advance care planning and decision making, symptom management, and cultural aspects of death and bereavement. Since 2014 Last Aid Courses have been introduced in 23 countries, recently including Brazil. The LAC is in all participating countries based on the same standardized curriculum and slide set.

Objetivo e Método

Methods: In Germany more than 5.000 facilitators offer LAC in different settings, mostly through the hospice movement. Brazil has 43 facilitators and most of the courses were offered through private connections at places known to the facilitators

Resultados

Results: So far in Germany there have been educated more than 95,000 citizens and more than 400 in Brazil. A study from Germany, Austria and Switzerland revealed that 88% of the participants were female with a median age of 56 years(2). In Brazil so far it seems that there is a similar gender distribution regarding the participants and the median age seems to be under 40 years.

Conclusão/Considerações finais

Conclusions: Comparisons from results from Germany and Brazil seem to indicate a similar gender distribution and differences in age of the participants. Even both countries having different cultures, the interest in participating in a last aid course seems bigger in women. A possibility for that could be that this group is more engaged in caring for others. The difference in age could be due to the fact, that some of the courses in Brazil were held at universities. More research on the topic is needed.

Referências

References:
1. Bollig G. Palliative Care für alte und demente Menschen lernen und lehren LIT-Verlag, Berlin 2010.
2. Bollig G, Brandt Kristensen F, Wolff DL. Citizens appreciate talking about death and learning end-of-life care: a mixed-methods study on views and experiences of 5469 Last Aid Course participants. Progress in Palliative Care. 2021;29(3):140-148.

Palavras Chave

Cuidados Paliativos; Last Aid; Palliative Care