Development of an advance care planning booklet in Taiwan

Objectives: Advance care planning (ACP) is the process of discussing the wishes of people regarding endof- life care and other related medical decisions. The aims of this study were to develop an ACP booklet in Taiwan and to identify relevant ACP issues. Materials and methods: A three-stage research designwas used. First, potential items were collected from the literature and were modified based on clinical situations and Taiwanese culture. Next, experts in palliative care evaluated the content validity of the items. Finally, healthy participants reviewed the ACP booklet and then discussed their experiences in focus groups. Results: The significant issues identified discussing ACP included life story, current health status and habits, life-threatening conditions and suffering, medical decisions about the end-of-life care, and a number of other items. The provision of comprehensive information about the pros and cons of specific medical procedures and of palliative care was identified as important. Conclusion: An ACP booklet facilitates discussion and decision-making related to end-of-life care. Furthermore, the present findings indicated that, when carrying out an ACP discussion, not only are the preferences and values of people important, but also factors related to their culture. Copyright (C) 2015, Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.