Voice Your Values: Tailored Advance Care Planning in Community Dwelling Older Adults with Dementia
VOICE YOUR VALUES, A TAILORED ADVANCE CARE PLANNING IN COMMUNITY DWELLING OLDER ADULTS WITH EARLY DEMENTIA
Presented by Shirin Vellani, PhD (candidate)
Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing University of Toronto
Thursday, March 4th, 2021
Institute for Life Course and Aging, Research Seminar Series, 2020-2021
People with dementia lose their cognitive abilities as the disease progresses however, in the early stage of the disease they are able to participate in identifying their wishes, values and goals of care. Research lacks the guidance on how best to incorporate Advance Care Planning (ACP) in caring for older adults (OA) with early dementia living in the community. Thus, only a minority of people with dementia participate in ACP discussions. We developed an intervention called “Voice your Values” that healthcare professionals can implement to identify and document values of OAs and engage them and their trusted individuals (e.g., friends, family) in the ACP process. The purpose of this study is to promote engagement in ACP early in the dementia trajectory; and to determine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of the Voice your Values intervention in community-dwelling OAs with early stage dementia and their trusted individuals. This project is highly relevant and timely because there is a need to develop interventions that facilitate ACP discussions in persons with early stage of dementia in order for them to receive care that is guided by their values and wishes. As well, it will provide an opportunity to the trusted individuals to learn about these values and wishes to be able to make an informed decision in the event of a crisis. It will also contribute to the development of practical recommendations for using real time video conferencing technology for ACP discussions in practice and future research.
Shirin Vellani is a Nurse Practitioner, who has experience working in a variety of specialized geriatric services programs. She is a PhD candidate in a collaborative PhD program in Nursing Science and Aging, Palliative, and Supportive Care at the University of Toronto supervised by Drs. Katherine McGilton, Martine Puts and Andrea Iaboni. Her research focuses on engaging older adults and their care partners with early stage dementia in advance care planning utilising virtual platform.