Professional Boundaries in the Lay Navigator Program: Teaching Cancer Patients about Advance Directives

• In Event: 067 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 13. Health and Health Care Needs across the Life Course

Abstract

This paper examines the issues surrounding palliative care, advanced directives and lay navigators working with cancer patients. These data come from 26 face-to-face interviews with lay navigators in the Southeastern U.S. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using NVIVO software. Preliminary findings show three major themes. 1. Timing for talking about dying is delicate, 2. There is a contested terrain among professionals as to the jurisdiction of authority granted the lay navigators, vis-à-vis social workers, doctors and nurses. 3. Consistent and frequent training of lay navigators is important. This research builds upon the sociological research on death, dying, and chronic illness. In addition, the results show that the proliferation of roles in health care continues with the introduction of lay navigators, and delineating boundaries among the professions is discussed.

Authors

• Soumya J Niranjan, UAB

• Patricia Drentea, University of Alabama-Birmingham

• Gabrielle Rocque, University of Alabama-Birmingham