Most Americans ‘relieved’ to talk about end-of-life care

Research from The Conversation Project indicates that the comfort zone is growing larger among Americans for having conversations about end-of-life care.

The Putnam County Hospice and Palliative Care Association (PCHPCA) notes that this is important, as one of the roadblocks to starting these conversations is the belief that these conversations make loved ones anxious.

However, according to a recent survey from The Conversation Project, 53 percent of Americans now say they would feel relieved if a loved one started “the conversation.”

“The survey shows that talking with the people we love about their wishes for end-of-life care brings relief, not anxiety,” The Conversation Project founder Ellen Goodman said.

Other research, as reported by the American Geriatrics Society in 2020 and the “Journal of Palliative Medicine” in 2022, suggests the following:

• Advance care planning conversations are associated with decreased survivor grief, decreased post-traumatic stress disorder and decreased burden;

• Patients, caregivers and clinicians who have had to make serious medical decisions for themselves or other people report that they think advance care planning is important; and

• It is crucial for seriously ill people and their health care representatives to prepare and become informed for making future medical decisions before a medical crisis, when there is rarely time or access to clinicians who can help walk them through the decision-making process in the moment.

“We have begun to break the taboo around talking about death,” said Goodman. “There’s a huge cultural shift under way. Virtually everyone knows this is important, but there is still a lingering reluctance to begin.”

The PCHPCA is a nonprofit public charity that operates with the help of donations, financial support from the Putnam County Community Foundation and fiscal sponsorship by Putnam County Hospital.

For more information, contact Director Elaine Peck at epeck@pchosp.org or visit www.pchpca.org.