Public Education – Evaluation (Qualitative)

It was noticed that many participants from the general public, despite being willing to think and discuss about life-and-death issues when prompted to do so, often had troubles understanding the major concepts in end-of-life care. For instance, many mistakenly believed that Advance Care Planning is just a single decision and signature to make, and overlooked the importance of the underlying communication and documentation process. Reassuringly, the programme activities have successfully rectified such misunderstandings.

More specifically, for the family workshops on Advance Care Planning, perhaps the most fruitful outcome was that patients were given a channel to express their preferences, thereby making it possible to provide them with goal-concordant and value-aligned care. Indeed, some participants took the opportunity to initiate the communication process and indicate through follow-up meetings that they would refuse to receive life-sustaining treatments in the end-of-life stage. As it turned out, many of them managed to avoid unnecessary pain and sufferings. On the other hand, the workshops also served a therapeutic purpose for the family members, as they were given a platform to release their emotions and stress.