Paediatric palliative care is an area where clinical expertise, communication skills, and cultural understanding intersect. Yet many clinicians – especially those who do not specialise in paediatrics palliative care – report feeling uncertain about how best to introduce this care to families. Caring Together – An Introduction to Paediatric Palliative Care is a resource developed to help address this need.
Co-designed with families and clinicians across the Australian sector, Caring Together provides clear, accessible information that supports families, while offering clinicians practical guidance to present palliative care in the most effective way.
The booklet also comes in an Easy Read version, which ensures broader accessibility of information. Its visuals, straightforward structure, and simplified explanations may help families with lower health literacy, intellectual disability, limited English proficiency, or heightened emotional distress, to understand complex ideas and make confident decisions.
The Arabic and Vietnamese versions of the Caring Together booklet extend this accessibility by ensuring that families from these communities receive information in their language that is not only linguistically accurate but culturally meaningful.
Why Caring Together matters for clinicians
Caring Together is particularly valuable for clinicians working with families from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The Arabic and Vietnamese versions were not simply translated – they were co-developed with community members to ensure cultural nuance, appropriate tone, and meaningful language.
By providing clinicians with culturally informed language and concepts, these versions support safer, more respectful cross-cultural communication when introducing a sensitive and complex topic such as paediatric palliative care.
Why Caring Together matters for families
Families often feel overwhelmed when navigating complex diagnoses, unfamiliar terminology, and decisions about their child’s care. Caring Together supports families by:
· explaining paediatric palliative care in their native language
· describing roles within the care team
· outlining children’s and families’ rights to information and involvement in care decisions
· supporting parents and caregivers to reflect on hopes, concerns, and values
· helping families revisit decisions at any time or as their child’s condition changes
Compassionate, culturally safe practice
The language used in the Arabic and Vietnamese versions acknowledges that engaging with paediatric palliative care is something no family expects. However, when that moment arrives, families can be supported and empowered to play an active role – if they wish to.
For families, these versions demonstrate that their background, values, and ways of understanding care are recognised and respected and show an appreciation of the diverse ways families make sense of care.
For clinicians, these versions offer culturally informed tools that enhance trust, understanding, and shared decision-making. With these versions, clinicians can provide accessible, culturally safe information beyond simple translation.
Co-designed, culturally safe resources don’t just inform – they transform how healthcare professionals stand beside families when it matters most. To find out more, order copies or download the digital versions from Caring together resource page, or visit Paediatric Palliative Care Australia for additional information.
About the Author
Alessia Aielli is a palliative care nurse and Project Officer at Palliative Care Australia and can be contacted at paediatrics@palliativecare.org.au.
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