• Rafidah Abdullah, Ping Guo, and Richard Harding.
• Hospital Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Ministry of Health, Temerloh, Malaysia. Electronic address: rafidah72@gmail.com.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 Dec 1; 60 (6): 1223-1238.e4.

BackgroundCare for people with progressive illness should be person centered and account for their cultural values and spiritual beliefs. There are an estimated 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide, largely living in low-income and middle-income countries.AimsThis study aimed to identify, appraise, and integrate the evidence for the experiences and preferences of Muslim patients and/or families for end-of-life care in Muslim-majority countries.DesignSystematic review.Data SourcesPsychINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and Registry of Clinical Trials, PubMed, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA), Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Social Policy & Practice, and Scopus were searched until December 2018. Handsearching was performed, and gray literature was included. Qualitative studies analyzed using thematic analysis and quantitative component provided triangulation.ResultsThe initial search yielded n = 5098 articles, of which n = 30 met the inclusion criteria. A total of 5342 participants (4345 patients; 81.3%) were included; 97.6% had advanced cancer. Most (n = 22) studies were quantitative. Three themes and subthemes from qualitative studies were identified using thematic analysis: selflessness (burden to others and caregiver responsibilities), ambivalence (hope and hopelessness), and strong beliefs in Islam (beliefs in death and afterlife and closeness to Allah). Qualitative studies reported triangulation; demonstrating conflicts in diagnosis disclosure and total pain burden experienced by both patients and families.ConclusionDespite the scarce evidence of relatively low quality, the analysis revealed core themes. To achieve palliative care for all in line with the total pain model, beliefs must be identified and understood in relation to decision-making processes and practices.Copyright © 2020 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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