Decision support intervention (Plan Well Guide) for patients and their substitute decision-makers to improve engagement in advance care planning: protocol for a randomised trial

Evaluation of a French adaptation of a community-based advance serious illness planning decision aid

Objective

The Plan Well Guide™ (PWG) is a decision aid that empowers lay persons to better understand different types of care and prepares them, and their substitute decision-makers, to express both their authentic values and informed treatment preferences in anticipation of serious illness. We aimed to determine the acceptability of the newly translated French PWG and to evaluate decisional readiness and decisional conflict following its use by lay people.

Methods

This is an acceptability and exploratory outcomes evaluation.Participants were requested to read and complete the French PWG and to engage in an online interview. We used the Acceptability Scale to determine the acceptability and the Preparation for Decision-making Scale and decisional conflict Scale to evaluate decisional readiness.

Results

Forty-two (42) people participated. The average score on the Acceptability Scale was 18.1 (scale range: 4-20 [high-better]) and 26.6 on the Preparation for Decision-Making Scale (scale range: 6-30 [high-better]). A significant number of respondents reported needing more support to help them make better decisions.

Conclusion

The French PWG has been deemed acceptable and relevant for lay people not currently facing clinical decisions.

Innovation

The Plan Well Guide is innovative as it is the first decision aid empowering lay people for advance serious illness planning.

Advance Care Planning Engagement Among Family Members of Community-Dwelling Elderly Patients With Chronic Diseases in China: A Mixed-Methods Study

In China, traditional culture advocates family consensus, and the advance care planning (ACP) engagement of family members is crucial to the implementation of ACP. However, there is still a lack of research on family members' engagement in ACP in mainland China. This study investigated the ACP engagement of family members of community-dwelling elderly patients with chronic diseases and provided evidence for further ACP intervention research. We conducted a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study, 273 family members were surveyed, and semistructured interviews were conducted. Following that, 12 family members were selected after statistical analysis to supplement the quantitative results. The results showed that the ACP engagement of family members of elderly patients with chronic diseases in the community was low, but the self-efficacy was higher. The age of family members, severity, and duration of patients' diseases were the main influencing factors for family members' ACP engagement. Traditional cultural, clinical decision-making mode, lack of understanding of ACP, and factors within the family may impede family members' engagement. This study showed that family-centered ACP practice has significant advantages in China and that future research should focus on the Chinese culture and medical system and highlight the role of families.

Randomised trial of a serious illness decision aid (Plan Well Guide) for patients and their substitute decision-makers to improve engagement in advance care planning

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a serious illness decision aid (Plan Well Guide) in increasing the engagement of substitute decision-makers (SDM) in advance care planning (ACP).

METHODS

This trial was conducted (2017-2019) in outpatient settings in Ontario, Canada, aiming to recruit 90 dyads of patients aged 65 years and older at high risk of needing future medical decisions and their SDM. Participants were randomised to receive the intervention immediately or to a 3-month wait period. The Plan Well Guide was administered to the patient and SDM by a facilitator. Outcomes were change on the validated 17-item SDM ACP Engagement Survey (primary) and 15-item patient ACP Engagement Survey (secondary).

RESULTS

Of 136 dyads approached, 58 consented and were randomised and 45 completed the study (28 immediate intervention, 17 delayed intervention). The trial was stopped early because of difficulties with enrolling and following up participants. The mean changes on the SDM ACP Engagement Survey and the patient ACP Engagement Survey favoured the first group but were not statistically significant (mean difference (MD)=+0.2 (95% CI: -0.3 to 0.6) and MD=+0.4 (95% CI: -0.1 to 0.8), respectively). In a post-hoc subgroup analysis, significant treatment effects were seen in SDMs with a lower-than-median baseline score compared with those at or above the median.

CONCLUSIONS

In this statistically underpowered randomised trial, differences in SDM ACP engagement between groups were small. Further information is needed to overcome recruitment challenges and to identify people most likely to benefit from the Plan Well Guide.Trial registration number NCT03239639.