Improving Palliative Care for Children in Korea

Thanks to medical advances, many children with life-limiting conditions are living for longer. However, intensive treatments and uncertain prognoses can mean they are at a high risk of suffering both physically and emotionally. This can take a toll on parents and siblings, and can impair everyday family life. This is recognised by the World Health Organization, which considers children’s palliative care to be: ‘the active total care of the child’s body, mind, and spirit, and which also includes support for the family.’[SC1] 

In South Korea, paediatric palliative care was initiated as a pilot project in 2018, and is being gradually expanded throughout the country. But in Korea current tools to evaluate paediatric palliative care are limited. For instance, they might only assess a single domain or not have been developed specifically for children.

The Children’s Palliative care Outcome Scale (C-POS) was developed in the UK. Now, researchers have developed the C-POS-K – the Korean adaptation of the C-POS. It is a translated and culturally adapted version of the original C-POS. The study found that the adapted tool assesses physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of both children and their family. It is tailored to the child’s developmental stage and cognitive ability.

Once the C-POS-K is validated with a psychometric evaluation, it can be widely used for paediatric palliative care in clinical practice, to evaluate the outcomes of interventions and help improve the quality of paediatric palliative care in Korea. The C-POS is being adapted in several different countries, including Japan, Taiwan and countries in Africa, to reflect both language and culture.

To find out more about POS, and access free resources and training, please visit the POS website

Kim E.S., Kim S., Braybrook D., Min H-G., Lee Y., Harding R. Development of the Korean Version of the Children’s Palliative Care Outcome Scale. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 72(2):217–30. 2026 August. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2026.04.624.