PALL-06. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING IN GLIOBLASTOMA PATIENTS: PHASE I OF A FEASIBILITY STUDY

AbstractBACKGROUNDAlthough Advance Care Planning (ACP) has shown to improve outcomes in other patient groups, including patient/family satisfaction and the quality of end of life (EOL) care, it is unknown if implementation of an ACP program would be feasible in daily clinical practice for glioblastoma patients. In phase I of this feasibility study, we aimed to assess possible barriers and facilitators for participation and implementation, the preferred content of the ACP program, and the best time to introduce such a program in the disease trajectory.METHODSA focus group with health care professionals (HCPs) was conducted as well as individual semi-structured interviews with patients and proxies (of both living and deceased patients), which were thematically analyzed.RESULTSBarriers for participation were that the program would be confronting or exhausting, while facilitators included access to information and finding peace. All predefined topics were considered relevant by participants, but should not be discussed too early, especially topics with respect to EOL care. New topics included proxies’ needs and financial issues. The optimal time to introduce varied; HCPs and proxies of deceased patients indicated that the program should be implemented soon after diagnosis. Living patients and their proxies indicated that the program could be initiated soon after diagnosis, but that topics about the EOL phase should be postponed until the EOL phase has started.CONCLUSIONThe positive results of phase I are currently used to develop an ACP program specifically for GBM patients, which will subsequently be evaluated in a longitudinal prospective study. The results suggest to offer the program soon after diagnosis, but patients and proxies should choose themselves which topics they want to discuss. The program itself, as well as its impact on several outcomes (e.g. health-related quality of life, satisfaction with care and quality of EOL care) will be evaluated.