Strategies to Understand What Matters to Advanced Cancer Patients in Advance Care Planning: A Qualitative Study Using the Lifeline Interview Method

Little is known about how health care providers should conduct advance care planning to identify the values of East Asian patients who have serious illnesses. This study aims to explore whether and how patients from an East Asian culture and with advanced cancer express their values and priorities when nurses utilize the lifeline interview method to enable patients to reflect on their life trajectories and if it can bridge advance care planning discussions. Data obtained from individual, semistructured interviews of 11 patients with advanced lung cancer were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Seven main themes were identified: (1) treatment and essential elements to maintaining everyday life, (2) beliefs regarding and support for being “myself”, (3) emotional ups and downs in response to physical condition, (4) competency to cope, (5) what I want to do “now” to achieve my goals, (6) goals that bring hope for life, and (7) wishes and preferences for end-of-life decision-making. Results suggest that the lifeline interview method is an excellent means for nurses and other health care professionals to elicit patients' values and priorities. Moreover, it bridges advance care planning discussions to reflect on what matters to patients in future palliative care.