Correlates of Case Managers' Advance Care Planning Practices

Abstract

Advance care planning is an increasingly important aspect of professional practice with older adults. Community-based geriatric case managers handle growing caseloads of frail older adults with future care needs that can be anticipated in advance. However, practice in this area is not well understood. A model of factors contributing to health professionals' practice behavior is used as a conceptual framework to study whether advance care planning practices are influenced by professional attributes and experiences, and perceptions of role, knowledge, skills, and barriers in this area. This study surveyed community-based case managers (n = 148) in the state of Florida to examine factors associated with their advance care planning practices. Factors that predicted advanced care planning practice included years of experience, the amount of advance care planning training experiences, perceived skill in geriatric practice competencies, perceived barriers to practice, and experience in advance care planning of a personal nature. Implications for enhancing practice in this area are discussed.