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Project
The effect of advance care planning on family carers’ experiences with and evaluation of end-of-life care: the results of a European multicenter cluster randomized controlled trial (FWOTM875)
Many patients with advanced cancer receive inappropriate or futile care at the end of life (EOL), which mostly results from a mismatch between patients’ preferences and the norms of current practice. An important prerequisite for care that adequately addresses patients’ preferences is timely and efficient communication. Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a formalized process of communication between patients, their family carers and professional caregivers about patients’ care preferences at the EOL. ACP has shown to enhance care that is consistent with patients’ goals, and improve patients’ quality of life and the quality of care delivered at the EOL.
This is the first study to assess the effect of ACP on the experiences with and evaluation of end-of-life care, from the bereaved family carer’s perspective. Family carers can provide valuable information regarding patients' care during the terminal phase of their illness; when patients are often unable to provide the information themselves. We will analyze data on the quality of EOL care from bereaved carers’ perspective that was collected as part of a European multicenter clinical trial to assess the effect of ACP on the quality of life for patients with advanced cancer. To get a more in-depth understanding of these family carers’ experiences with and evaluation of end-of-life care, we will also collect entirely new qualitative data to explore how, from family carers’ perspectives, ACP influenced the achieved EOL care outcomes.
This is the first study to assess the effect of ACP on the experiences with and evaluation of end-of-life care, from the bereaved family carer’s perspective. Family carers can provide valuable information regarding patients' care during the terminal phase of their illness; when patients are often unable to provide the information themselves. We will analyze data on the quality of EOL care from bereaved carers’ perspective that was collected as part of a European multicenter clinical trial to assess the effect of ACP on the quality of life for patients with advanced cancer. To get a more in-depth understanding of these family carers’ experiences with and evaluation of end-of-life care, we will also collect entirely new qualitative data to explore how, from family carers’ perspectives, ACP influenced the achieved EOL care outcomes.
Date:1 Oct 2017 → 30 Sep 2020
Keywords:care planning, family, end of life care
Disciplines:Palliative care and end-of-life care