Last Aid Courses as a Means for Public Palliative Care Education - A Narrative Review of the Literature and 10 Years of Experience Around the World with Implications for Future Research

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Callum

Objective: Provide a narrative overview of scientific knowledge on Last Aid Courses and related experiences across countries. Background: Death literacy, grief literacy, and knowledge about palliative care remain limited globally, while death and grief are often stigmatized as taboo. Public Palliative Care Education (PPCE) and Last Aid Courses (LAC) seek to improve public knowledge and literacy. Methods: Literature search in PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, and PsycInfo plus hand searches, reference lists, and the internet. Results and Discussion: PPCE and LAC introduced in 23 countries; 17 articles and reviews included. Ongoing research evaluates effects and cultural issues. Conclusions: Since 2015, LACs in 23 countries; LAC, LAC-KT, and PPCE may support community dialogue on end-of-life care. Future research should focus on retention over time and long-term course effects.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Objective

Background

Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusions

1. Introduction

Global need and barriers

Public knowledge approach (PPCE and LAC)

Review Last Aid Courses as a Means for Public Palliative Care Education—A Narrative Review of the Literature and 10 Years of Experience Around the World with Implications for Future Research Georg Bollig 1,2,3,4, *,†, Jason Mills 3,5, *,†, Sindy Müller-Koch 3,6, Pandeli Pani 3,7, Bianca Neumann 8,9 and Erika Zelko 3,10,11 Academic Editor: Paolo Cotogni Received: 30 October 2025 Revised: 22 December 2025 Accepted: 23 December 2025 Published: 31 December 2025 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. 1 Department of Anesthesiology, Intensive Care, Palliative Medicine and Pain Therapy, Helios Klinikum Schleswig, 24837 Schleswig, Germany 2 Department of Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany 3 Last Aid Research Group International (LARGI), 24837 Schleswig, Germany 4 Letzte Hilfe Deutschland gGmbH, 24837 Schleswig, Germany 5 Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death, and Dying (RePaDD), College of Nursing and Health Science, Flinders University, Adelaide 5042, Australia 6 Nursing Home am Lerchenberg, 06886 Wittenberg, Germany 7 Deutsche Welle, 53113 Bonn, Germany 8 Sue Ryder, London NW1 1BU, UK 9 International Observatory on End of Life Care, Division of Health Research, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Health Innovation One, Sir John Fisher Drive, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4AT, UK 10 Institute for Palliative Medicine, Medical Faculty, University Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia 11 Institute for General Medicine, Medical Faculty, Johannes Keppler University, 4040 Linz, Austria * Correspondence: georg.bollig@helios-gesundheit.de (G.B.); [jason.mills@flinders.edu.au](jason.mills@flinders.edu.au) (J.M.)† These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract Objective: To provide a narrative overview of the scientific knowledge on Last Aid Coursesand experiences from different countries. Background: The levels of death literacy, grief literacy, and knowledge about palliative care are low in many countries around the world. For many people, dying, death, and grief are still a taboo. Public Palliative Care Education (PPCE), the public knowledge approach, and the Last Aid Course (LAC) aim to increase death literacy, grief literacy, and public knowledge about palliative care. Methods: A literature search in the databases PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, and PsycInfo was undertaken. Other additional sources were found by hand searching, books, reference lists, and the internet. A narrative overview of the existing literature on LAC and Public Palliative Care Education (PPCE) is provided. Experiences with PPCE and LAC from different countries are presented. Based on the findings, a future agenda for research on PPCE and LAC is presented. Results and Discussion: PPCE and LAC have been introduced in 23 countries. A total of 17 articles and reviews on Last Aid were included. Research on the effects of LAC in different countries and cultural issues connected to LAC are ongoing. Conclusions: Since 2015, LACs have been introduced in 23 different countries. The LAC, the LAC-KT, and PPCE may enhance the public debate on dying, death, grief, and palliative care and may empower people to contribute to end-of-life care in the community. Future research on PPCE, the LAC, and the LAC-KT should focus on retention over time and the long-term effects of the courses. Keywords: palliative care; public palliative care education; end-of-life care; compassionate communities; Last Aid Course; health literacy; death literacy; grief literacy; education 1. Introduction The global demand for palliative and end-of-life care is expected to rise in the coming decades due to the growing number of chronically ill, elderly, and frail individuals worldwide [1–8] . Moreover, as most people

FAQs

What is the objective of the narrative review?

The review provides a narrative overview of scientific knowledge on Last Aid Courses and experiences from different countries, focusing on their role in Public Palliative Care Education.

Why are Last Aid Courses and PPCE considered important?

The paper states that death literacy, grief literacy, and knowledge about palliative care are low in many countries and that death and grief are often taboo, so PPCE and LAC aim to increase public literacy and knowledge.

How was the literature gathered and what was the scope of included studies?

A search was conducted in PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, and PsycInfo, with additional sources found via hand searching, books, reference lists, and the internet. The review included 17 articles and reviews on Last Aid.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Callum