“Everybody Should Do it!” - How Advance Care Planning is Communicated Among Members of Online Communities

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Poster Session: Health Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Questions of “good deaths”, “bad deaths”, dying and suffering are not exclusively limited to final life phases, but have increasingly to be dealt with beforehand. In the course of advance care planning (ACP), individuals “formulate their wishes about end-of-life-care” (Perkins et al., 2004) for situations of severe health restrictions and dependency. Conversations evolving around ACP are growingly taking place within online communities. However, little is known about the actual nature of this communicative exchange: questions on the contents of the conversations within online communities, the functions they serve for their members, and the people participating in these conversations, have largely remained unacknowledged. We addressed these questions in a qualitative content analysis of comments on ACP instruments in seven online forums. Results showed a strong focus on personal experience, and emotional support, with health professionals rarely participating in the conversations. Implications of study results for ACP debates and decisions are discussed.

Authors

• Manuel Menke, Dep of Communication and Media, LMU Munich

• Marina Drakova, Augsburg U

• Anna Wagner, Augsburg U

• Susanne Kinnebrock, U of Augsburg