Family-centred advanced care planning with adolescents living with HIV is perceived as important, helpful and meaningful

摘要

Implications for practice and research: While talking about advance care planning (ACP) with adolescents living with HIV may elicit strong emotions, these conversations are perceived as important, helpful and meaningful. Future studies would benefit from a tool that assesses readiness and interventions that increase comfort in having ACP discussions with adolescents and their families. Context: There is limited information regarding advance care planning (ACP) discussions among adolescents compared with adults living with chronic and life-limiting conditions. Despite policy recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute of Medicine to provide adolescents the opportunity to express their preferences about end-of-life (EOL) care, these conversations often occur too late. Barriers include a belief that such conversations cause distress as well as healthcare provider discomfort. This recent study by Dallas and colleagues supports increasing evidence that EOL discussions with teens are not harmful. Instead, EOL discussions can help parents and providers make informed decisions, alleviate distress, avoid decisional regret and improve the patient's quality of life (QoL).