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Advance care planning (ACP) has been shown to improve end-of-life care, but it was developed in the U.S., and most research has been conducted in western communities.

We aimed to study the attitudes and perceptions of patients with life-limiting illnesses, informal caregivers, doctors, nurses, and medical social workers regarding ACP in a multicultural family centric community.

We conducted an explorative qualitative study, using focus groups and individual in-depth interviews. We used purposive sampling techniques to recruit 61 adults (15 doctors, 13 nurses, 5 medical social workers, 15 patients, and 13 caregivers) from multiple health care settings across the country.

The participants are genuinely anxious about the implementation of ACP. They had positive and negative expectations of ACP. Many were confused about the legal framework for health care decision-making …