Possible Significance of a Café-style Event to Introduce Advance Care Planning for General Citizens

We conducted a survey to determine whether the general public who participated in a café-style event to raise awareness of advance care planning (ACP) actually implemented ACP after attending the event.

On February 20, 2020, a café-style event (Tokai Blue Café: TBC) was held at the Tokai University Hospital. The TBC consisted of a lecture about ACP, "The Go-Wish Game," and a tea party. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted on ACP implementation after one month of TBC.

Of the 14 participants (three males and 11 females), 11 agreed to answer the questionnaire and eight responded. Two respondents were male and six were female. Six of the respondents were aged ≥ 60 years. Seven of the eight respondents implemented ACP with their family members, while none did so with their family doctor, even though all of them indicated that they had a family doctor. Several respondents reported that they were uncomfortable discussing the issue with their doctors.

The results indicate that a café-style event as an awareness-raising activity may have a significant effect on ACP implementation, although it suggests that there are some challenges in involving family doctors.