Facilitating advance care planning conversations among patients with cancer and their care partners utilizing a conversation game: A pilot study

Facilitating advance care planning conversations among patients with cancer and their care partners utilizing a conversation game: A pilot study
Cancer Reports; by Kylee Kimbel, Michael Hayes, Morgan Bucher, William A Calo, Tullika Garg, Monika Joshi, Hannah Kuntz, Terrence E Murphy, Erika VanDyke, Emily Wasserman, Lauren J Van Scoy; 6/25
Current guidelines [for patients with cancer] recommend early, frequent advance care planning (ACP) conversations among clinicians, patients, and care partners (CPs) and advance directive (AD) completion. However, only 55% of patients with cancer have completed such directives, suggesting the need for interventions to increase rates of ACP. The Hello game has been shown to be effective in promoting ACP in several populations but has not been tested in patients with cancer or their CP. Three themes emerged from both patient and CP focus groups ...: (1) Participants enjoyed the group dynamics and relating to peers when playing Hello; (2) Hello serves as a helpful conversation starter; (3) modifications could help tailor Hello for use in cancer context-particularly adding more questions about quality of life and mental health. Hello was well-received by dyads, and their feedback was used to tailor Hello for patients with cancer and their CPs.