Le travail psychosocial et les soins palliatifs pédiatriques en Palestine

The Augusta Victoria hospital, located in Jerusalem, is a Palestinian hospital specialized in hematology-oncology and nephrology for adults and children. Unique in its kind in Palestine, the hospital is developing a psychosocial care department focusing mainly on pediatric and palliative care, under the leadership of a child psychiatrist with the help of several social workers. The general working environment is quite specific: access to care hindered by the Israeli authorities, bureaucratic healthcare system with different quality levels and distinct religious and cultural contexts. The different workers must take into account the limits set by the child's parents concerning what can or cannot be said to the child about his-her disease and death. The psychosocial department tries to co-construct with the medical teams a healthcare setting responding to the needs of all.