Thinking ahead about medical treatments in advanced illness: a qualitative study of barriers and enablers in end-of-life care planning with patients and families from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Background: This study explored whether or not, and how, terminally ill patients from ethnically diverse backgrounds and their family caregivers think ahead about deterioration and dying, and explored their engagement with health-care professionals in end-of-life care planning.

Objective: The aim was to address the question, what are the barriers to and enablers of ethnically diverse patients, family caregivers and health-care professionals engaging in end-of-life care planning?

Design: This was a qualitative study comprising 18 longitudinal patient-centred case studies, interviews with 19 bereaved family caregivers and 50 public and professional stakeholder responses to the findings.

Setting: The study was set in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire in the UK.