Advance Care Planning: Experience of Women With Breast Cancer
Abstract
Advance care planning (ACP) enables women with breast cancer to proactively document their end-of-life care preferences. The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence and predictors of ACP documents and the desire for ACP information for women undergoing chemotherapy, and to test the effectiveness of an ACP intervention among women attending breast cancer support groups. Among the 236 women undergoing chemotherapy, 76 women (32%) had ACP documents. Increased probability of having ACP documents was associated with increasing age, being Caucasian, and trust in the oncology health care provider. Among the 80 women recruited from support groups, the ACP intervention was successful in improving ACP knowledge, especially among African-American women. The ACP intervention resulted in 58% (n=46) women completing ACP documents. The results of this study provide unique insights into factors that are associated with ACP during chemotherapy. Results also supported the effectiveness of the ACP intervention among women attending breast cancer support groups. Continued ACP intervention is warranted, especially among African-American women with breast cancer, to improve knowledge and ACP document completion rates. This will further reduce end-of-life health care disparities and promote women's ability to have control over the care they receive at end of life.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA457714
Entities
People
- Ardith Z Doorenbos
Organizations
- Michigan State University