Abstract

Problem: An advance directive is a recognized legal document that expresses a person's own wishes and values which will guide medical decision making in the event of serious illness or incapacity. Despite many ongoing efforts to increase civic awareness, advance directive completion rates remain historically low and the need for a standardized approach to advance care planning discussion has been extensively supported within the literature.

Intervention: The purpose of this project was to implement an oral discussion forum and enhanced informational session within the community setting to increase the intention to complete an advance directive form among adults aged 55 and older. The Honoring Choices campaign was utilized as a guide for facilitating the program.

Measures: Efficacy of the project was measured using a pre- and post-test consisting of the 9-item Advance Care Planning Engagement Survey.

Results: There was not a significant difference between participants' readiness scores before or after the intervention, suggesting that individuals who participated in the intervention were not significantly more ready to complete an advance directive (p = 0.67).

Conclusion: Stagnant advance directive completion rates among individuals in the United States is a civic health issue impacting all adults. Findings from this project suggest that one, hour-long educational information session does not result in an increased intention to complete an advance directive and further research in the area is still a recognized need.

Erin Dugan

Author Details

Erin Dugan, DNP-S, BSN, RN

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Lead Author Affiliation

Nebraska Methodist College, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Quality Improvement

Research Approach

Qualitative Research

Keywords:

Advance Directives, Advance Care Planning, Completion Readiness, Community Knowledge, Oral Discussions, Informational Sessions

Advisor

Hall, Lyndsi

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Nebraska Methodist College

Degree Year

2022

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Faculty Approved: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

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