We decided on this form of consent, because it emerged from earlier research that immigrant people with a low level

of literacy preferred not to sign a declaration that they were unable to read for themselves [24]. Recruitment and research population Patients and their families were mainly contacted indirectly through GPs, and professionals working in hospitals or homecare organisations, as the question whether the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical person INK 128 purchase involved was suffering from cancer could not easily be put to them directly. The first contact between the first author and care providers often took place at regional network meetings for palliative care or at national symposia. In addition, we composed a short letter of introduction, which was sent by e-mail and post to care providers who might be available for interview. A shortened form of the introductory letter was translated into Turkish and Moroccan Arabic for the patients. They received this information through their care providers Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and, in some cases, directly from the researcher. Interviews were held

on 33 cases of patients with incurable cancer, 27 of these cases concerned patients of the “first generation immigrants”, and six Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical other cases concerned patients of the “second generation”. In some cases interviews were held with two or three interviewees together. The age of the patients varied. Fourteen patients were younger than 50 years, thirteen were 50-70 years old and six patients were older than 70. Seventeen patients died at home, seven in hospital, two in a hospice, three in Turkey and four were still alive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical when we stopped the phase of data collection. In 6 of the 33 cases, we were also able to speak

to the patient in person. In the other cases, this was not possible, because the care provider involved or the GP did not want the patient to be bothered by the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical interview. In addition, five male and 25 female family members and 47 care providers were interviewed. The care providers included 17 GPs, 19 nurses, five specialists, four social workers and two clergymen. More information GBA3 about the background characteristics of the cases can be found in Table ​Table11. Table 1 Characteristics of the cases Interviews For the semi-structured interviews we developed a topic list containing questions on a few facts (e.g. disease characteristics, treatment and care trajectory, family and professional context) and experiences in the process of decision making. So, we asked the respondents to describe decisions and actions during the treatment and care trajectory and to reflect on these decisions in the light of their personal views and values. Finally, we asked them what emotions these reflections aroused and what concerns lay behind these emotions, as these often reflect the respondents’ vital views, values and norms.