Co‐Design to Improve Palliative Care for LGBTIQ+ People: Evaluating the Development of eLearning

LGBTIQ+ people continue to experience barriers to accessing palliative care and poor palliative care outcomes, including fear of discrimination, risk of abuse and neglect, and having their end‐of‐life wishes unmet. While co‐design is increasingly being used to address the needs of minoritized communities, little is known about the processes of co‐designing programs to improve palliative care with LGBTIQ+ communities. This research evaluated a co‐design process used to develop an eLearning intervention to improve Australian palliative care providers’ awareness of the issues and needs of LGBTIQ+ people. Semistructured qualitative interviews ( n = 11) were conducted with co‐design team members ( n = 8), which explored their expectations and experiences of the process over 10 months from 2022 to 2023. Co‐designers were diverse people with a range of lived and professional experiences in palliative care–related roles. Thematic analysis identified three themes: co‐designers shared common goals, the facilitation process enabled the participation of LGBTIQ+ participants, and the substantial work required outside of co‐design meetings to complete the intervention design. The study highlighted conditions that constrain co‐design processes and the importance of specialist facilitation and organizational support to manage these conditions within tight time and funding limitations. Limitations to co‐design best practice can be mitigated by transparent and accountable communication with effective and supportive facilitation.