Abstract
Access to palliative care and end-of-life care is a recognised human right. Disparities in accessing palliative care are known to exist. There have been recent attempts to understand the unique and variable understandings of palliative care and end-of-life care from different cultural perspectives. This research aimed to explore concepts of palliative care from a Cook Islands M & amacr;ori perspective in New Zealand. Using a constructivist grounded theory methodology and the Tivaevae model 28 participants, were interviewed. The findings revealed key concepts, namely: palliative care is a spiritual journey in which spirituality is omnipresent; the kopu tangata (family inclusive of the ancestors) are a vital component of palliative care and experience their own life course transition during the palliative care journey. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to develop a model of Cook Islands M & amacr;ori palliative care. This model can provide understanding and guidance to clinicians. It contributes to the limited body of knowledge on cultural understandings of palliative and end of life care but specifically describes various adaptions that can be applied in New Zealand.