How to Implement Advance Care Planning for People With Dementia: A Scoping Review

Advance care planning for people with dementia is an important process to ensure that patient preferences are respected throughout disease progression. However, the complexity of advance care planning and the challenges in effective communication hinder its implementation. The lack of clear procedural guidance for health care teams and the limited research on practical issues such as building trust and resolving conflicts further complicate this process.

To explore the key components of and processes for advance care planning for people with dementia.

The authors conducted a comprehensive search of databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, NICE, Open Grey, CNKI, and Wanfang. The inclusion criteria focused on studies reporting advance care planning practices and stakeholder perspectives related to dementia.

The review included 45 studies and identified key components and processes for successfully implementing advance care planning in dementia care. These components include enhancing readiness, capturing patient wishes, and executing those wishes. The implementation processes cover assessing participation capacity, selecting surrogate decision-makers, and identifying healthcare providers who implement advance care planning. As the condition of people with dementia progresses, the role of healthcare providers who implement advance care planning becomes increasingly important in advance care planning practices.

The success of advance care planning depends on the interconnection of multiple components, and the findings offer practical insights for improving the advance care planning process to ensure that the care preferences of people with dementia are respected throughout the progression of the disease.

PRISMA-ScR.

This is a review without patient and public contribution.