Asian family members' participation in advance care planning: An integrative review

Abstract

Background: Family members play a pivotal role in advance care planning for patients with life-limiting illnesses, particularly in Asia, where cultural values stress family-centeredness and paternalism.

Aim: To synthesize the evidence pertaining to the extent of Asian family members' involvement in advance care planning.

Design: An integrative review was conducted.

Data sources: Data sources included MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, PubMed, Wan Fang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, Google Scholar, and Open Gray.

Results: 21 studies were included. The willingness of Asian family members to participate in advance care planning is high, while their actual engagement remains low. Based on the barriers, facilitators, and Asian family members' roles influencing participation identified in our study, a six-dimensional conceptual model was developed: Asian family members' roles, problem-solving skills, communication, affective responsiveness, affective participation, and controlling behavior in advance care planning. Barriers to effective participation were identified: inadequate advance care planning legislation, insufficient public education, and influences from Confucianism or traditional beliefs. Additionally, filial piety was shown to have a paradoxical effect on Asian family members' participation in advance care planning in Asian countries.

Conclusions: This study proposes a culturally sensitive model to illustrate family members' participation in advance care planning in Asia. This lays a foundation to develop culturally specific interventions to enhance family participation in advance care planning in the future. We recommend that Asian governments should enact legislations, enhance public education, and incorporate cultural characteristics into relevant policy frameworks to foster greater family involvement in advance care planning.

Keywords: Advance care planning; Asian people; advance directives; family; palliative medicine.