Preferences on forgoing end-of-life treatment are stable over time with people owning an advance directive; A cohort study.

Objective: We studied if preferences about end-of-life care of people having an advance directive (AD) stay stable over time and if (in) stability is associated with health status.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort study with a population owning different types of ADs (n = 4638). Respondents repeatedly answered questionnaires between 2005-2010.

Identifying patients who could benefit from palliative care by making use of the general practice information system: the Surprise Question versus the SPICT.

Objective: We compared the performance of two tools to help general practitioners (GPs) identify patients in need of palliative care: the Surprise Question (SQ) and the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT).

Methods: Prospective cohort study in two general practices in the Netherlands with a size of 3640 patients. At the start of the study the GPs selected patients by heart using the SQ.

Stability of end-of-life preferences in relation to health status and life-events: A cohort study with a 6-year follow-up among holders of an advance directive.

Background: Stating preferences about care beforehand using advance care planning and advance directives has become increasingly common in current medicine. There is still lack of clarity what happens over the course of time in relation to these preferences. We wanted to determine whether the preferences about end-of-life care of a person owning an advance directive stay stable after the experience of a life-event; how often advance directives are altered and discussed with family members and physicians over time.

Continuing or forgoing treatment at the end of life? Preferences of the general public and people with an advance directive.

Background: We studied preferences on continuing or forgoing different types of treatments at the end of life in two groups: the general public and people with an advance directive (AD). Furthermore, we studied factors associated with these preferences and whether people's preferences concurred with the content of their AD.

Methods: A representative sample of the Dutch population (n=1402) and a cohort of people who own an AD, consisting of members of Right to Die-NL (NVVE, n=5661) and the Christian-orientated Nederlandse Patiënten Vereniging (NPV, n=1059), answered written questionnaires in 2005 or 2007.

Motivations, aims and communication around advance directives: a mixed-methods study into the perspective of their owners and the influence of a current illness.

Objective: What are motivations of owners of an advance directive (AD) to draft an AD, what do they aim for with their AD and do they communicate about their AD?

Methods: Written questionnaires were sent to a cohort of people owning different types of ADs (n=5768). A purposive sample of people suffering from an illness was selected from the cohort for an in-depth interview (n=29).

Results: About half of our population had no direct motivation to draft their AD.

Design of the Advance Directives Cohort: a study of end-of-life decision-making focusing on Advance Directives.

Background: ADs are documents in which one can state one's preferences concerning end-of-life care, aimed at making someone's wishes known in situations where he/she is not able to do so in another manner. There is still a lot unclear about ADs. We designed a study aimed at investigating the whole process from the formulating of an AD to its actual use at the end of life.

Advance directives in the Netherlands: an empirical contribution to the exploration of a cross-cultural perspective on advance directives.

Research Objective: This study focuses on ADs in the Netherlands and introduces a cross-cultural perspective by comparing it with other countries.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to a panel comprising 1621 people representative of the Dutch population. The response was 86%.