Life Cafe - A co-designed method of engagement

The last decade has witnessed a demographic change on unprecedented scale - people are living longer and with more complex, long term conditions. This paper presents a programme which seeks to rethink how palliative and end of life care can be provided equitably, efficiently and sustainably for future generations. It explores the methodological approach undertaken by university researchers, to engage communities in conversations around a topic often seen as taboo. The community engagement focuses on understanding what is important to individuals in life, care, and end of life. A methodology, named the Life Café, has been developed to gather research in an informal manner within community groups and familiar environments. The Life Café comprises critical artefacts, activities and resources, co-developed with community members developed to answer the research questions. The Life Cafe has become a product that can be used across different services to establish what matters to individuals and enable difficult conversations.