Understanding How Justice-Involved People in Canada Access and Receive Care When Diagnosed with a Life-Limiting Illness

There is a considerable knowledge gap in the Canadian context regarding access to and quality of palliative care for justice-involved individuals. The need to explore carceral realities for people diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses has been recently identified in Canadian literature. Among the concerning issues are the aging population trend inside and outside prisons, the high prevalence of chronic and life-limiting illnesses among carceral populations, and Corrections’ numerous obstacles to the provision of quality health care . Thus, contributing to the body of knowledge that illuminates the provision of palliative care for justice-involved people will deepen an understanding of the correctional healthcare landscape and reveal how prisons as institutions shape the health experiences of persons who are diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses or dying.
The purpose of this research is to examine how justice-involved individuals in Canada access and receive care when diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, from the perspective of healthcare and community-based providers with the goal of advancing palliative care equity.
As a third-year doctoral student, I aim to develop the skills and capacity to become an embedded health services researcher in BC. This internship will accelerate the advancement of my leadership skills and provide experiential learning opportunities that will lead to developing key competencies such as data analysis, critical thinking, knowledge translation, communication, and networking.
This project directly addresses Providence Health’s strategic goal of delivering high quality equity-oriented palliative care to vulnerable populations, including people with lived experience of criminal justice involvement. The anticipated impact and value of this project will accelerate organizational transformation in moving towards this goal.