Awareness and attitudes towards advance care planning in primary care: role of demographic, socioeconomic and religiosity factors in a cross-sectional Lebanese study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess awareness and attitudes towards engaging in advance care planning (ACP) and their relationship with demographic, socioeconomic and religiosity factors among Lebanese middle-aged to older-aged adults in primary care.DesignA cross-sectional survey study.SettingTertiary referral hospital in Beirut, Lebanon.ParticipantsA total of 215 middle-aged to older-aged adults.ResultsOut of 215 participants, 18.6% of participants knew about ACP; 94% favoured truth-telling; 87.4% favoured healthcare autonomy; 77.2% favoured documenting their own health values and preferences; and 29.3% were willing to undergo life-prolonging interventions. Among participants who were aware of ACP, 67.5% preferred ACP documentation and 85% had negative attitudes towards life-sustaining interventions. Women were more aware about ACP than men. Those who were willing to undergo life-prolonging interventions were found to be men and had higher religiosity scores.ConclusionLarge deficit in ACP awareness was evident despite the high preference for healthcare autonomy. Medical and public health efforts should strive to enhance patients’ ACP awareness and engagement in ACP while considering factors relevant to gender, culture and religiosity.

Readiness for advance care planning and related factors in the general population: a cross sectional study in Iran

“…Women were also more aware of ACP than men. Men had higher willingness to perform life-prolonging interventions [ 24 ]. In the study by Yunus et al 56.2% to 72.6% of American Muslims were in the pre-thinking stage about ACP and mainly were unprepared to interact with the concept of ACP.…”

Public awareness of advance care planning and hospice palliative care: a nationwide cross-sectional study in Korea

“…However, other research studies have shown that low income is positively correlated with HPC awareness, suggesting that people with low income are more willing to seek alternative options because of the high cost of curative treatment [ 45 ]. One study has also reported that income is not significantly related to awareness of ACP [ 19 ]. Our study showed that female participants were less likely to be aware of ACP than male participants, whereas gender had no significant relationship with awareness of HPC.…”

“…Moreover, as the world faces an aging population and an increasing in number of patients with chronic and incurable diseases, strategies to increase awareness and promote the use of ACP and HPC are becoming important for improving quality of care [ 19 , 20 ]. The percentage of people aged 65 years or more of the world is projected to increase from 9.8% in 2022 to 20.1% in 2070 [ 21 ].…”