Advance care planning in pediatric oncology
Door kleodubois op Woe, 10/03/2021 - 09:07
In the adult population, advance care planning (ACP) has shown to improve communication around care planning. However, ACP tools or interventions for child and adolescent cancer patients are scarce and evidence is lacking. There is evidence that adolescent patients have the desire and ability to share their values, beliefs, and preferences for treatment at the end of life. Especially communication about topics such as “what to do if the adolescent should get significantly worse” remains difficult, leaving room for improvement.
Aiming to improve parent-adolescent communication about ACP topics, the study team has developed an intervention for adolescents with cancer and their parent(s). This study will assess the effectiveness of a pediatric ACP intervention (BOOST) for adolescents with cancer and their parent(s) in Belgium. In addition, there will be a process evaluation to evaluate the implementation, mechanisms of impact, and context of the intervention.
The intervention group will receive the BOOST pACP intervention. The control group will receive care as usual.
The BOOST pACP intervention involves three conversation sessions between a trained facilitator (external to the medical team) and an adolescent with cancer and their parent(s). Before the conversation sessions take place, the family receives preparation booklets. During the first conversation session, the facilitator will introduce the content of the upcoming conversation sessions to the adolescent and parent(s), by showing a short video and discussing two topics with conversation cards. The second conversation session takes place with the adolescent and parent(s) separately and is structured by conversation cards. Examples of topics discussed are “worries and fears” and “expectations for the future”. In the third conversation session, the adolescent and parent(s) will fill out a summary sheet together. If they give permission, the facilitator will share the summary sheet with their pediatric oncologist.
Attachment:
