Community Game Day: Using an End-of-Life Conversation Game to Encourage Advance Care Planning

Context: Advance care planning (ACP) is an important process that involves discussing and documenting one's values and preferences for medical care, particularly end-of-life treatments.

Objectives: This convergent, mixed-methods study assessed whether an end-of-life conversation card game is an acceptable and effective means for performing ACP for patients with chronic illness and/or their caregivers when deployed in a community setting.

Methods: Twenty-two games (n = 93 participants) were held in community settings surrounding Hershey, PA in 2016. Participants were recruited using random sampling from patient databases and also convenience sampling (i.e., flyers). Quantitative questionnaires and qualitative focus group interviews were administered to assess the game experience and subsequent performance of ACP behaviors.

Results: Both quantitative and qualitative data found that Community Game Day was a well-received, positive experience for participants and 75% of participants performed ACP within three months post-intervention.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that using a conversation game during community outreach is a useful approach for engaging patients and caregivers in ACP. The convergence of quantitative and qualitative data strongly supports the continued investigation of the game in randomized controlled trials.