Abstract / Description of output
Context
Population ageing and projections that more people will die in care homes demand that care home staff are prepared for Advance Care Planning (ACP). This is an update of a prior review, published in 2021, of ACP education interventions for healthcare professionals in care homes.
Objective
We sought to address the questions: 1) ‘What ACP education interventions exist for care home staff?’ and 2) ‘how effective are these interventions?’
Method
The review adheres to PRISMA; PROSPERO (ID: CRD42022337865). Original research evaluating ACP education for care home staff, reporting any measurable outcome of effectiveness, was included. Extensive literature searches were performed from March 2018 to June 2022. The results were reported by narrative synthesis.
Findings
We identified 10 studies (310 care homes), from the UK, Belgium, Norway and Canada. Major sources of heterogeneity between studies include intervention design, target population and outcome measure. More recent interventions target the wider multi-disciplinary team. There is a trend towards adoption of more resident/family and staff related outcomes. There was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of ACP education interventions.
Limitations
Heterogeneity of the primary studies did not allow for meta-analysis.
Implications
There remains insufficient data to determine the effectiveness of ACP education interventions for care home staff. Future researchers should aim to agree outcomes that are specific to ACP education interventions for care home staff and develop standardised, validated outcome measures. Study design should consider an intervention’s “theory of change” when considering outcomes.
Population ageing and projections that more people will die in care homes demand that care home staff are prepared for Advance Care Planning (ACP). This is an update of a prior review, published in 2021, of ACP education interventions for healthcare professionals in care homes.
Objective
We sought to address the questions: 1) ‘What ACP education interventions exist for care home staff?’ and 2) ‘how effective are these interventions?’
Method
The review adheres to PRISMA; PROSPERO (ID: CRD42022337865). Original research evaluating ACP education for care home staff, reporting any measurable outcome of effectiveness, was included. Extensive literature searches were performed from March 2018 to June 2022. The results were reported by narrative synthesis.
Findings
We identified 10 studies (310 care homes), from the UK, Belgium, Norway and Canada. Major sources of heterogeneity between studies include intervention design, target population and outcome measure. More recent interventions target the wider multi-disciplinary team. There is a trend towards adoption of more resident/family and staff related outcomes. There was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of ACP education interventions.
Limitations
Heterogeneity of the primary studies did not allow for meta-analysis.
Implications
There remains insufficient data to determine the effectiveness of ACP education interventions for care home staff. Future researchers should aim to agree outcomes that are specific to ACP education interventions for care home staff and develop standardised, validated outcome measures. Study design should consider an intervention’s “theory of change” when considering outcomes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 273-287 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Long-Term Care |
| Volume | 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2023 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- advance care planning
- education
- healthcare workers
- nursing homes
- long-term care