Effect of Educational Session Including Lived Experiences from Local First Responders on Community Readiness to Complete Advance Directives

Abstract

Although Advanced Care Planning and Advance Directives are effective tools for communicating an individual’s wishes, if they become unable to speak for themselves, they are underutilized, and their purpose is frequently misunderstood. This project aimed to use current literature, information from the North Carolina Office of Emergency Management, and the lived experiences of local first responders to create a community-specific advance directive education program. Project impact was measured using pre-and post-education readiness rulers to quantify the participants' readiness to create an advance directive. All participants reported an increased readiness after viewing the education material. While this project's generalizability is limited due to sample size and recruitment method, it successfully increased community members' readiness to create an advance directive.