Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a desirable process of individual and community reflection, discussion, and communication about end-of-life care preferences. However, with a prevalence in the general population < 40%, there is often uncertainty of individuals’ preferences for care and potentially undesired treatment. No studies describe the role of faith communities to promote ACP. This study assesses understanding and use of ACP in one Midwestern city’s faith communities and evaluates the impact of offered ACP information programs. A conceptual model of ACP, mostly influenced by the Decision Process Model, demonstrates the trigger event and the cycle of planning, communicating, and initiating which hopefully culminates in presenting the plan when end-of-life care is needed. Planning includes consideration of information, values, and past experiences. ACP information programs provide a trigger and offer strategies for planning, communicating, and initiating end-of-life care plans. Study participants are individuals who voluntarily attend an ACP information program conducted by an ACP Facilitator. Participants will include adult men and women from diverse faith communities; a sample of 100 is expected. This descriptive study includes a repeated measure before and after participation in an ACP information program. The Participant Survey, adapted from the Respecting Choices® Advance Care Planning Quality Improvement Toolkit, measures ACP understanding and use. ACP Facilitators distribute the pre- and post-program Participant Survey; then send completed surveys to the research team for analysis. Descriptive statistics will be generated and compared across all participants, within program groups, and within faith community groups. This study will provide a baseline understanding of how members of faith communities understand and use advance care plans and the immediate effect of ACP programs. For the longer term, this study lays the groundwork for an evaluation of the effectiveness of faith communities as promoters of ACP.
Session #1223 - Graduate Student Poster Session
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)