Cultivate Life: Empowering the Future of African Americans through Advance Care Planning

Date

2024-08

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Abstract

A Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) project was conducted in response to the lack of awareness and stigma related to advance care planning (ACP) among African Americans. The CQI entailed an innovative approach involving community workshops and targeted educational materials to improve understanding and engagement with ACP. An outcome evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of this innovation. The evaluation results showed increased awareness and reduced stigma towards ACP, indicating a positive attitude shift and a potential for higher completion rates. Furthermore, recurring themes such as mistrust, limited education, and health literacy were identified as significant factors influencing ACP engagement. While mistrust was not directly linked to ACP completion rates, it was intricately connected to the African American community’s uncertainty about ACP procedures and outcomes. This mistrust, rooted in historical experiences and systemic inequalities, poses a significant barrier to effective ACP engagement (Hall & Heath, 2020).). To address these challenges, “Cultivate Life” was created. This innovation aims to empower African Americans to take control of their health, providing education with biblical context to support their spiritual values and informing them about available resources. By fostering trust and offering culturally sensitive education, Cultivate Life seeks to shift the narrative that our community does not plan for life’s unexpected challenges, honoring the legacy of our ancestors while paving the way for a proactive and resilient future. Cultivate Life seeks to redirect the narrative that the African American community does not plan for Life’s unexpected challenges by fostering trust and offering culturally sensitive education. This innovation emphasizes the importance of proactive health planning and decision-making, honoring the legacy of ancestors who valued forethought and resilience. Cultivate Life aims to create a new tradition of preparedness, ensuring that individuals and families can handle unforeseen events with confidence and clarity. The ultimate goal is to build a proactive and resilient future where the community is better informed, more engaged in their health planning, and able to navigate the complexities of ACP with ease and assurance.

Description

A capstone project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Social Work

Keywords

Social work

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