| dc.description.abstract | This study partnered with Capital Caring Health (CCH), the largest non-profit advanced illness care provider in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia area. CCH has provided hospice care, palliative care, and counseling to nearly 200,000 patients and their families throughout its history. It aspires to lead in providing advanced illness care of the highest quality to its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus (LGBTQ+) patients and their loved ones. While there has been some progress made in the medical system when providing care for this population, there is still much work to be done, and a paradigm shift is needed to change the way that LGBTQ+ people are cared for at their end of life (Acquaviva, 2017). This study uses an adapted conceptual framework that combined Bernstein and Salipante (2023)’s Framework for Inclusive Practices with an Inclusive Excellence framework and organizational behavior model (Williams et al., 2005). The adapted framework highlights how an organization can set up conditions to be inclusive and diverse, but first it must understand its own inclusive practices and how those practices impact interactions within and among the organization. Ultimately, this will uncover the impact of the lived experiences of the organization’s staff and the communities it serves. This study’s aim was twofold: to understand CCH’s current practices that demonstrate LGBTQ+ inclusivity and determine what additional actions CCH can take to demonstrate its commitment to supporting the LGBTQ+ population at their end of life. It is a mixed-methods study, utilizing an online survey to volunteers, semi-structured interviews to volunteers and staff, and organizational document analysis. Through two findings and four recommendations, this study assists CCH in better understanding what LGBTQ+-inclusive practices exist and what additional practices are needed as it aspires to be the leading hospice organization supporting the LGBTQ+ population and their loved ones at the end of life. | |
