If Not Now, When?: New CHPCA Research Reveals Only One in Five People in Canada Has an Advance Care Plan

advancecareplanning.ca website provides valuable tips, resources and encourages 'conversations that count'

OTTAWA, ON, Oct 1, 2024 /CNW/ - Advance Care Planning is a lifelong process of thinking about and communicating the kind of health and personal care you would want if the unthinkable happened and you were no longer able to care for yourself or express your wishes. New research¹ from the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) reveals that although most (77%) people in Canada are thinking about their future healthcare wishes, few (17%) have an existing Advance Care Plan. A new website, www.advancecareplanning.ca, provides information and valuable tools to those at any stage of their Advance Care Planning journey, including the My Advance Care Planning Guide newly designed to better meet accessibility needs.

Taking control and advocating for yourself

Among the key objectives of creating an Advance Care Plan is self-advocating – letting your wishes be known in the event you can no longer personally express them. From a car accident to a medical emergency, an Advance Care Plan would dictate preferences and inform decisions regarding your future care, including any interventions that may need to be taken on your behalf. This plan acts as a guide that your circle of care will follow when communicating your preferences to healthcare providers.

"Life can change in the blink of an eye and too often we can lose the ability to advocate for ourselves without notice, which is why Advance Care Planning and voicing your healthcare preferences early on is so crucial. Having a plan in place is both empowering for the patient and provides relief to a person's circle of care so they can carry out important wishes and preferences in good faith," says Laurel Gillespie, CEO of CHPCA. "Knowing how challenging it can be to make these decisions and have the conversations with loved ones, CHPCA has developed the new, Advance Care Planning suite of programming that is accessible to everyone in Canada to help them define and then share their healthcare wishes, before it's too late."

Sharing a meaningful milestone

As important a milestone as gaining the right to vote or a driver's license, advance care planning is a process everyone needs to go through to take control of the kind of health and personal care they would want in the future. Not a 'one-and-done' exercise, Advance Care Plans should be revisited after major life milestones, such as moving to a new city, getting married, going through a separation or making the choice to become a parent.

Recording your values and preferences is only one step to developing an Advance Care Plan, as it is equally important to share that plan with trusted Decision-Makers who will help make your wishes known. Expanding your circle of care to include more trusted connections, including healthcare professionals, will increase the likelihood of your wishes being carried out on your behalf.

Barriers to Advance Care Planning

There are many barriers keeping people from taking action and creating their Advance Care Plan or even talking about it, including cultural beliefs surrounding death and illness or assumptions that loved ones already know what their healthcare wishes would be. There is however a shift in willingness to have these conversations with twice as many people in Canada (80%) believing there needs to be more acceptance around talking about illness and death in our society.

Creating an Advance Care Plan

Nearly half (47%) of people in Canada say they don't know where to find information or advice about advance care planning. To address this, the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association has developed accessible, forward-thinking programming on a new website: www.advancecareplanning.ca.

The organization provides a comprehensive Advance Care Planning Guide, which explains the step-by-step process of making a Plan, with questions to fill out based on personal feelings and preferences. Once a first draft is complete, meaningful conversations about your personal values and preferences will become easier to inform future healthcare needs and make sure you are advocating for your own care.

For more information on Advance Care Panning, visit www.advancecareplanning.ca.

About Advance Care Planning Canada: 

The national Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Canada initiative is led by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) with a financial contribution from Health Canada. The initiative aims to help people living in Canada prepare for their future health and personal care. Visit https://www.advancecareplanning.ca/ to learn more.

About CHPCA:

The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) is the national voice for hospice palliative care in Canada. CHPCA is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in hospice palliative care and provides leadership on advocacy, education, research, and knowledge translation to ensure that everyone in Canada has access to high-quality hospice palliative care. CHPCA operates in close partnership with provincial hospice palliative care organizations and other national organizations to strengthen the accessibility and quality of palliative care provided across Canada. Visit www.chpca.ca to find out more. 

^1About this study: Ipsos conducted an online survey among n=3,047 Canadians, 18 and older, representative by age, gender, region and disability. The total sample of those living with a disability was n=1,292. The survey was fielded between Jan. 31 and Feb. 20, 2024. This survey was conducted in English and French.

SOURCE Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association

For more information, please contact: Julie Gate, Strategic Objectives on behalf of The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA), [email protected], 416 366 7735 x0233