Death, dying and informatics: misrepresenting religion on MedLine

Muslims and End-of-Life Healthcare in Non-Muslim Majority Nations: A Systematic Literature Review

CONTEXT

As Muslim populations in non-Muslim majority nations grow and age, they will increasingly require culturally appropriate healthcare. Delivering such care requires understanding their experiences with, as well as preferences regarding, end-of-life healthcare.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the experiences, needs, and challenges of Muslim patients and caregivers with end-of-life, hospice, and palliative care.

METHODS

A systematic literature review using five databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane Library) and key terms related to Islam and end-of-life healthcare. Papers were limited to English-language empirical studies of adults in non-Muslim majority nations. After removing duplicates, titles, abstracts, and articles were screened for quality and reviewed by a multidisciplinary team.

RESULTS

From an initial list of 1867 articles, 29 articles met all inclusion criteria. Most studies focused on end-of-life healthcare not related to palliative or hospice services and examined Muslim patient and caregiver experiences rather than their needs or challenges. Content analysis revealed three themes: (1) the role of family in caregiving as a moral duty and as surrogate communicators; (2) gaps in knowledge among providers related to Muslim needs and gaps in patient/family knowledge about advance care planning; and (3) the influence of Islam on Muslim physicians' perspectives and practices.

CONCLUSION

There is scant research on Muslim patients' and caregivers' engagement with end-of-life healthcare in non-Muslim majority nations. Existing research documents knowledge gaps impeding both Muslim patient engagement with end-of-life care and the delivery of culturally appropriate healthcare.

Designing academic career trajectories: identifying internal assets and evaluating external challenges

When I joined the Society of Behavioral Medicine's Mid-Career Leadership Institute in 2016, I was at an academic crossroads where my motivation to pursue a research career was waning. Specifically, I was challenged in obtaining funding for my unique research focus, and by the loss of institutional mentors and sponsors. In this commentary, I describe how I utilized components of the SBM Leadership Institute, specifically executive coaching and peer mentorship, as well as introspection to identify career trajectories that align with my internal motivations, as well as acknowledge dynamics in my scholarship area and at my institution. By specifying several concrete possibilities for career advancement that are both personally meaningful and institutionally practical, I have been better able to focus my scholarly pursuits and seek out leadership positions. In general terms, the leadership institute helped me to evaluate my own internal assets (e.g., skills and passions), to critically examine trends in my area of scholarship, and to delineate alternative career pathways. In my view such periodic introspection and evaluation is critically important for maintaining a fulfilling academic career.

End-of-life treatment decisions in adult Muslims: a scoping review protocol

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this scoping review is to explore the empirical evidence on the range of treatment decisions made by adult Muslims at the end of life.

INTRODUCTION

Relief of pain and suffering is a human right; however, ethnic, racial, and religious minorities do not receive optimum end-of-life care. Several factors have been identified as impacting on the decision-making of minority populations. These patients have been found to access palliative care to a lesser degree, receive inadequate pain management, prefer aggressive care, and die in a place other than their place of preference. Muslims remain an under-represented community in end-of-life studies, with little known about their care preferences and decisions in their final stage of life.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

This review will include studies whose participants are adults (≥18 years) facing end-of-life decision-making who identify as Muslim while residing in a non-Muslim-majority country. The participants may be healthy volunteers with a view on the subject, or patients and their caregivers facing end-of-life decision-making. Quantitative and qualitative studies will be included, with the exclusion of theoretical and opinion-based articles.

METHODS

The three-step search strategy for the proposed scoping review will follow JBI methodology. Databases to be searched include MEDLINE via OvidSP, PsycINFO via OvidSP, Embase via OvidSP, Scopus (Elsevier), CINAHL via EBSCO, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. Studies in English published since database inception will be considered. The results will be extracted and charted by two independent reviewers. Data will be presented in tabular form and a narrative summary provided.

Integrating information literacy into the education of public health professionals: roles for librarians and the library

OBJECTIVE

The paper reviews the core competencies for public health professionals presented in the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) report, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy: Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century; describes improving information literacy (IL) as a mechanism for integrating the core competencies in public health education; and showcases IL as an opportunity for solidifying partnerships between academic librarians and public health educators.

METHODS

The IOM competencies, along with explicit examples of library support from a literature review of current IL trends in the health sciences, are analyzed.

RESULTS

Librarians can play a fundamental role in implementing the IOM's core competencies in shaping public health education for the twenty-first century. A partnership between public health educators and librarians through a transdisciplinary approach is recommended.

CONCLUSIONS

IL skills and competencies integrated into public health curricula through a collaborative partnership between public health educators and librarians can help integrate the IOM's core competencies and improve public health education.

Portraying Islam and Muslims in MEDLINE: a content analysis

The growing number and diversity of Muslims in the United States and Western Europe challenge clinicians and researchers to understand this population's perspectives and experiences regarding health and biomedicine. For information about Muslim patient populations, clinicians and researchers routinely consult medical literature. To examine how this literature portrays Muslims, we conducted an ethnographic content analysis of 2342 OVID MEDLINE-indexed abstracts from 1966 through August 2005, derived from a Boolean search for "islam or muslim or muslims." Manifest (explicitly stated) themes included Muslim religious practices, Islamic law and ethics, history of Islamic medicine, public health, social medicine, and cultural competence. Latent (underlying) themes implied that being an observant Muslim poses health risks; Muslims are negatively affected by tradition, and should adopt modernity; and that "Islam" is a problem for biomedical healthcare delivery. A countervailing latent theme implies that being Muslim may promote good health. We discuss ambiguities in uses of the term "Muslim;" implications of Muslim practices for health management and healthcare delivery; and ways in which MEDLINE-indexed literature intersects with orientalist and colonialist discourse about religious Others. Such intersections highlight connections with potential structural inequalities in healthcare delivery to Muslim patients.