Latin America Network for Primary Palliative Care

NCT07436026 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 1 other identifier: AC26011
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 50
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Palliative care is the holistic care provided to individuals and their families who experience health related suffering related to life-limiting conditions. Palliative care is practiced by speciality level clinicians and also non-specialists. The term Primary Palliative Care (PPC) refers to the palliative care provided in primary care by primary care staff. In Latin America (LA), palliative care services have shown strong growth over the past two decades, but remain established and integrated in only a few localised areas across the region. Building on the success of the UoE's Global Access to Palliative Care Latin America (GAP - LA) Project led by the Usher Institute and funded by the UK Medical Research Council (grant number MR/V021400/1), primary care has been identified as a natural area for capacity building and strengthening to reduce health related suffering from serious illness and improve end of life care in Latin America. The researchers will collaborate with Pallium Latin America (PLA), a LA association involved in advocacy, education and clinical care in the region. The objectives of this study are:

1. 1.To explore the facilitators and barriers to the implementation of a Latin American contextualised primary palliative care from the perspective of family medicine doctors
2. 2.To list and describe the models in which palliative care is delivered within primary care
3. 3.To define the process and outcome measures which would be meaningful for measurement of primary palliative care
4. 4.Online case-based discussion meetings (around 12 every 6 to 8 weeks) and post-meeting survey
5. 5.Online individual semi-structured interviews (20-30)
6. 6.Online co-researcher focus group discussions (3-5)
7. 7.Co-researcher surveys
8. 8.Documentary analysis Online meetings, interviews and focus group discussions will be recorded, translated and transcribed. Transcripts and surveys will be the data for analysis using NVivo, RedCap and MS Excell software.

Conditions

Palliative Care; Primary Care; Primary Care Physician

Keywords

Mixed-methods; Qualitative research; Latin America; Primary Palliative Care

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• To explore the facilitators and barriers to the implementation of a Latin American contextualised primary palliative care from the perspective of family medicine doctors

  The qualitative research will seek to understand how family medicine doctors in Latin America understand and practice primary palliative care, and what helps and hinders this.

  24 months

• To list and describe the models in which palliative care is delivered within primary care

  The survey will ask Latin American family doctors how they deliver primary palliative care. These data will help the research team to understand the characteristics of these different approaches.

  24 months

• To define the process and outcome measures which would be meaningful for measurement of primary palliative care

  By consensus through focus groups, the research will seek to understand what measures would be valuable in understanding the effectiveness of any primary palliative care models of service provision

  24 months

Study Arms (1)

Family Doctors

Latin American primary care doctors interested in palliative care

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

It is estimated that 30 to 50 co-researchers will participate in this research study. The majority will be primary care doctors working in LA, with a minority being palliative care doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. One to three participants will be non-health care workers involved in the Latin American Network for Primary Palliative Care (LANPPC) due to their lived experiences of caring for someone with a life limiting condition, and their current relationship with PLA.

You may qualify if:

• \- Health care co-researchers
• Eligibility criteria of health care co-researchers:
• Spanish or English speaking
• Based and practicing in a Latin America country
• Health care professional (doctor, nurse, or allied health care professional)
• Working in primary or palliative care
• Willing to give their written informed consent to participate in the research
• It is expected that the majority of co-researchers will be primary care doctors. 30-50 co-researchers will be recruited.
• Patient representative co-researchers In addition, one to three patient representatives will be recruited from the established informal network. This will be individuals who
• Spanish or English speaking both
• Is based in a LA country
• Has personal experience of caring for a relative with health-related suffering from a serious condition.
• Is willing to give their written informed consent to participate in the research.

You may not qualify if:

• Does not speak Spanish or English
• Is not involved in primary care or palliative care
• Is not based in a LA country
• Is unwilling to give their written informed consent to participate in the research.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Edinburgh: lead

Study Sites (1)

Latin American Network for Palliative Care

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Location

Related Publications (5)

• Pastrana T, Lima L, Dussel V, Kwete XJ, Downing J, Fallon M, Grant L, Bhadelia A, Radbruch L. Global Consensus-Based Essential and Expanded Packages for Palliative Care and Pain Relief for Adults and Children: A Delphi Study. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2025 Dec;70(6):627-637.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2025.08.027. Epub 2025 Aug 29.

  PMID: 40886945 BACKGROUND

• Munday D, Boyd K, Jeba J, Kimani K, Moine S, Grant L, Murray S. Defining primary palliative care for universal health coverage. Lancet. 2019 Aug 24;394(10199):621-622. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31830-6. No abstract available.

  PMID: 31448727 BACKGROUND

• Pastrana T, De Lima L. Palliative Care in Latin America: Are We Making Any Progress? Assessing Development Over Time Using Macro Indicators. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2022 Jan;63(1):33-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.07.020. Epub 2021 Aug 12.

  PMID: 34391843 BACKGROUND

• Ramanadhan S, Aleman R, Bradley CD, Cruz JL, Safaeinili N, Simonds V, Aveling EL. Using Participatory Implementation Science to Advance Health Equity. Annu Rev Public Health. 2024 May;45(1):47-67. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-060722-024251. Epub 2024 Apr 3.

  PMID: 38109515 BACKGROUND

• Jull J, Giles A, Graham ID. Community-based participatory research and integrated knowledge translation: advancing the co-creation of knowledge. Implement Sci. 2017 Dec 19;12(1):150. doi: 10.1186/s13012-017-0696-3.

  PMID: 29258551 BACKGROUND

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 12, 2026
• First Posted: February 27, 2026
• Study Start: March 27, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 13, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 13, 2028
• Last Updated: April 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Locations

AR (1)