End of life care: exploring psychological well-being, religious practices and beliefs and support needs of Manchester’s Chinese population

End of life care requires attention to mental health, religious practices and beliefs and health care systems and supports to help individuals cope with bereavement. To date, there is limited research examining end of life care and the needs of ethnic minority populations in the UK. Understanding end of life care expectations in relation to these groups is important for informing the development of new health policy and service initiatives. As such, the purpose of this study is to explore the mental health, religious practices and beliefs and any services and support systems needed by this community to cope with end of life care and bereavement. This project was conducted in collaboration with the Wai Yin Chinese Women’s Society in Manchester, UK. Fourteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a group of Chinese migrants - primarily women working within the margins of UK’s formal economy. The participants were recruited as a part of Wai Yin’s Sunshine Project, which aimed to train Chinese migrants to improve their knowledge of employment and immigration rights and language skills to enable them to access support services. Preliminary themes from the transcribed data include: the notion that cremation differs between the two countries (where cremation is the law in China); the importance of filial duty and end of life care in the next generation; and the comfort and security of coping with end of life within the intimate care relationship