Stephanie Crawford

The focus of my PhD is to explore and develop an understanding of death literacy across the island of Ireland. With an ever-increasing ageing population and complimentary increased strain on palliative care and end of life care services, such research is vital. Despite numerous new public health approaches to palliative care being devised in Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI), an accepted measure to assess the outcomes of such approaches lacks. To address this research gap, researchers in Australia recently developed the Death Literacy Index (DLI). Through a mixed methods approach, my PhD will investigate the appropriateness of the DLI for NI and the ROI. Through cognitive interviews with a ‘think-aloud’ methodology, the DLI will be optimised and validated for use in an all-Ireland population. My PhD will also provide population level benchmarks of death literacy and in doing so will gain a clearer understanding into the predictors of death literacy for NI and the ROI. The addition of a Delphi study will explore recommendations on how to address death literacy across communities in Ireland. The PhD research will inform policy makers and provide a much-needed tool for evaluation and improvement of end-of-life care services and initiatives across the island of Ireland.