Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Social Work

Degree Name

Master of Science

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Kyeonghee Jang

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Rachel Slaymaker

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Lauren Grizzard

Abstract

Advance care planning (ACP) is the process of aligning patients’ values and preferences to their future medical care. ACP is important in promoting patient autonomy and helping patients and their families prepare for end-of-life conversations. Healthcare teams, made up of physicians, nurses, or social workers, carry the responsibility to engage patients into such conversations. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of healthcare professionals regarding ACP outcomes and barriers. This cross- sectional study used survey responses of a convivence sample of 18 allied healthcare professionals and 4 physicians in a not-for-profit, faith-based hospital system in West Texas to measure willingness, confidence, and participation in ACP, and barriers related to those outcomes as professionals. This study found moderate to high mean ratings for ACP outcomes for physicians and allied healthcare professionals. The regression analysis showed allied healthcare professionals who perceived higher barriers in their roles had lower confidence in engaging in ACP with patients. From the current study and analyzed literature, the researcher suggests healthcare professionals need to have opportunities to expand their knowledge and confidence in ACP conversations to promote better patient outcomes in end-of-life care.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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