Correlates of Case Managers' Advance Care Planning Practices

Abstract

Advance care planning is an increasingly important aspect of professional practice with older adults. Community-based geriatric case managers handle growing caseloads of frail older adults with future care needs that can be anticipated in advance. However, practice in this area is not well understood. A model of factors contributing to health professionals' practice behavior is used as a conceptual framework to study whether advance care planning practices are influenced by professional attributes and experiences, and perceptions of role, knowledge, skills, and barriers in this area. This study surveyed community-based case managers (n = 148) in the state of Florida to examine factors associated with their advance care planning practices. Factors that predicted advanced care planning practice included years of experience, the amount of advance care planning training experiences, perceived skill in geriatric practice competencies, perceived barriers to practice, and experience in advance care planning of a personal nature. Implications for enhancing practice in this area are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• advance care planning
• community-based long term care
• geriatric case management
• professional practice
• professional roles

This research was funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation. The author wishes to thank Dr. Janice Fauske, School of Education, University of South Florida at Sarasota-Manatee, for her assistance in the initial design of the survey, and Dr. Debbie Parker-Oliver, School of Medicine, University of Missouri at Columbia, for her helpful comments on a draft of the manuscript.

Notes

Public Law 89–73. Older Americans Act of 1965.