UCSF

Background

Advance care planning has been shown to improve end of life decision-making for people with dementia. However, the impact of goals of care conversations between people with dementia and their caregivers has not been characterized.

Objective

In this study, we evaluate the association between goals of care conversations and advance care planning outcomes.

Methods

Retrospective advance care planning measures were collected via a questionnaire administered to 166 caregivers after the death of the person with dementia for whom they provided care.

Results

At time of death, the majority of decedents with dementia had advance directives, health care agents, and previous goals of care conversations with their caregiver. Goals of care conversations were significantly associated with the perceived usefulness of advance directives, the perceived adherence to advance directives, and decedent dying at their desired place of death, but not with disagreements around end-of-life care.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that goals of care conversations are an important component of advance care planning. These findings support the development of interventions that facilitate such conversations between people with dementia and their caregivers.