A new last aid course in easy language for mentally handicapped people

Aims: In order to enable people to participate in end-of-life care at home Last Aid courses have been started in Germany, Norway and Denmark in 2014/2015. Today 17 countries are members of the International Last Aid working group and the 2. International Last Aid conference was held in 2020. People with mentally handicap are also relatives of dying people and may experience death of others in their surroundings. The aim of the present work was to adapt the existing Last Aid course curriculum to fit the needs of mentally handicapped people. Methods: A working group of Letzte Hilfe Deutschland gUG (the German Last Aid NGO) was established including experts from the fields of palliative care, education and work with mentally handicapped people. The multidisciplinary group worked using video meetings only due to the ongoing Covid-pandemic. Results: Within the year 2020 the group revised the complete curriculum to suit the needs of mentally handicapped people while keeping the original course format with four modules with 45 minutes each. The four modules are about: 1. Dying as a normal part of life;2. Planning ahead;3. Relieving suffering;4. Final goodbyes. The used easy language approach was based on: short sentences;easy language;well-known words;a clear structure;pictures explaining the writing and certain rules for the layout. The curriculum and the slide presentation for the course was proofread by people with mental handicaps and a specialised agency for easy language in order to receive the easy-to-read-logo from Inclusion Europe. Due to the restriction for classroom education the course has not been tested in practice yet. Pilot-courses are planned and will be started as soon as the actual Covid-restrictions permit classroom education again. Conclusions: The working group has established an adapted Last Aid course curriculum and slide presentation for mentally handicapped people. The course will be pilot-tested soon.