Communication About End-of-Life Health Decisions

Abstract

Most end-of-life research assumes that effective communication is critical to the delivery of high-quality end-of-life health care, but less is known about what constitutes effective end-of-life communication. In this review, I synthesize literature on improving advance directive completion, physician training, and family communication about end-of-life issues. I demonstrate how this work has produced mixed results about what makes end-of-life communication more or less effective because this research has remarkably little grounding in a communication perspective. I conclude by arguing that communication scholars, especially those utilizing a multiple goals approach, are well positioned to take end-of-life research in new directions that will improve end-of-life practice.