268 The role of family and filial piety in serious illness and end-of-life decision making in the Chinese diaspora: an exploratory qualitative study

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The process of decision making in serious illness and end-of-life care needs to be culturally appropriate, relevant, and equitable. For Chinese Americans, family and filial piety have been shown to impact this process, yet it remains poorly understood how. The purpose of our study is to explore this decision-making process qualitatively. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We created semi-structure interview guides, based on a literature review of values salient to serious illness and end of life care for Chinese Americans. The guides will be used to conduct three focus groups, each with ten participants who identify as Chinese American stratified by highest attained familial role (grandparents, parents, and adult children). This will be done in partnership with Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, a local community organization, in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin using our interview guides with live interpretation. Focus groups will be audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic content analysis and modified grounded theory. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We anticipate that we will identify how, by whom, and why Chinese Americans in Boston’s Chinatown make decisions during serious illness and end-of-life. We anticipate that we will clarify cultural values, the balance between individual and collective values, intergenerational processes, individual and family suffering, and themes salient to this process. We expect to elucidate the role of family and filial piety during serious illness and end-of-life decision making and compare how these processes differ by generation and familial role for this population. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Using the family as a unit of investigation and focusing on intergenerational processes represent a novel approach to understanding decision making during serious illness and end of life care for Chinese Americans.