Transformative advance care planning: the Honoring Choices Minnesota experience

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• End-of-life discussions have been culturally avoided in the U.S. since death became medicalized.
• This avoidance creates barriers to patient-centered care and personal autonomy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the impact of the Honoring Choices Minnesota (HCM) initiative.
• To analyze how HCM is shifting cultural norms surrounding end-of-life conversations.

Main Methods:

• Case study of a large-scale, community-centered health initiative.
• Qualitative analysis of cultural change in end-of-life communication.

Main Results:

• HCM is identified as the largest nongovernmental, voluntary community initiative of its kind globally.
• The initiative demonstrates a capacity to transform societal attitudes towards discussing death and dying.
• Progress is being made in normalizing end-of-life wishes through facilitated dialogue.

Conclusions:

• Community-centered initiatives like HCM can effectively address cultural taboos surrounding end-of-life care.
• Open conversations about death and dying are crucial for improving end-of-life experiences.
• HCM serves as a model for fostering cultural change in healthcare communication.