A Formative Evaluation of Patient and Family Caregiver Perspectives on Early Palliative Care in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease across Disease Severity.

Little direction exists on how to integrate early palliative care in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We sought to identify patient and family caregiver early palliative care needs across stages of COPD severity. As part of the Medical Research Council Framework developmental phase for intervention development, we conducted a formative evaluation of patients with moderate to very severe COPD (forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV]/FVC < 70% and FEV < 80%-predicted) and their family caregivers.