Educational intervention: Improving the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals on living wills

Abstract

[eng] Background: Health professionals have limited knowledge of advanced directives or living wills, which may hamper understandings among the general population. This could impact on the current low registration rates for advanced directives. Objective: To evaluate a single-group educational intervention to improve the knowledge and attitudes con cerning advanced directives in the short and medium term among health professionals working in nursing homes for older adults. Design: An educational intervention was carried out. Settings: Fourteen nursing homes in Cantabria, Spain. Participants: 201 healthcare professionals. Methods: A theoretical presentation, questions and debates took place between November 2018 and May 2019. Baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up measurements were made to evaluate knowledge and attitudes to wards advanced directives. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed using the Student’s ttest and the one-factor ANOVA. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Cantabria. Findings: No statistically significant differences were found for any of the socio-demographic variables at base line, post-intervention, or follow-up. In relation to the baseline questionnaire, knowledge and attitudes increased after the intervention (p = .000 for both blocks of questions) as well as in the follow-up questionnaire (p = .000 for both blocks). Discussion: A single-group educational intervention increases knowledge and improves attitudes towards advanced directives. Educated professionals can become health agents in this area, which can lead to an increase in the registration of advanced directives. Conclusions: Educational interventions represent a cost-effective measure that may provide benefits at the end of life for patients and their families, as well as for the healthcare team.