“If you Want to be Slapped, ThenWhy not? We’ll Call you for Interviews” – Understanding Challenges Entailed in Conducting Interviews With Israeli-Arab Patients at End-of-Life, Using the Culturally-Responsive Research Approach

In 2023–2024, we conducted a qualitative study on palliative care among Israeli-Arab end-of-life patients, following ethical approvals at our university and in the participating hospitals. The study was conducted by a female Muslim Israeli-Arab Ph.D. student and supervised by a male white Jewish professor. Yet our cultural differences led to methodological and ethical challenges and tension. Over time it became clear that such obstacles could not be adequately addressed through “common” practices of reflection and positionality. To achieve a more refined understanding of the challenges and their impact on the researchers, the participants, and the research at large, a culturally-responsive research approach was applied. Following the critical advocacy research design, this study analyzed the major challenges and solutions associated with conducting this research in Israeli-Arab society. Situational-analysis methods were used to interpret and understand the data. Based on a five-stage analysis, four major themes identified: Facing death and choosing research; relationships with participants and other related stakeholders; conducting interviews and feeling bound (or supported) by ethical guidelines; and supervisor-student relationship. Discussing these themes provides a rich understanding of these challenges and of the concept of death and dying in Arab society. The achieved micro-, meso-, and macro-level insights advocate for change and further action in academia and research ethics concerning sensitive qualitative studies.