Exploring advance care planning awareness, experiences, and preferences of people with cancer and support people: an Australian online cross-sectional study.
PURPOSE
To explore advance care planning (ACP) awareness, experiences, and preferences of people with cancer and support people of someone with cancer, in Australia.


METHODS
Descriptive analysis and independent group t tests were used to examine data from a national, online cross-sectional survey.


RESULTS
Of 705 respondents (440 people with cancer, 265 support people), 48.5% of participants had heard of ACP prior to the survey and 65% had discussed their values or preferences with someone. Significantly more people aged under 65 years had discussed their preferences than their older counterparts. Most (93%) discussions occurred with family or friends, but only 3.7% occurred with a health professional. A total of 33% had documented their preferences, with support people, women, and people aged under 65 years significantly more likely to have signed a legal document appointing someone to make medical decisions on their behalf. Views varied about the preferred timing of ACP and end-of-life care discussions (38.3% when cancer is incurable compared to 20% at diagnosis). Only 3.0% did not want to discuss ACP at all. Topics discussed were significantly different based on cohort, gender, age group, treatment status, and region.


CONCLUSION
Despite increasing community awareness of ACP, understanding remains low amongst cancer patients and support people, who generally rely on discussions with family and friends rather than health professionals. ACP should be introduced early across multiple interactions with health professionals, discuss a broad range of ACP relevant topics, and involve the cancer patient and their support person.
['Rodi|Helena|H|', 'Detering|Karen|K|', 'Sellars|Marcus|M|', 'Macleod|Ashley|A|', 'Todd|Julia|J|', 'Fullerton|Sonia|S|', 'Waller|Amy|A|', 'Nolte|Linda|L|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D032722:Advance Care Planning D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D001315:Australia D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D000079382:Internet-Based Intervention D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009369:Neoplasms D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D055815:Young Adult
Advance care planning Survey End-of-life care Advance care directive Caregiver Oncology