“Peace With My Maker”: Voices of Seriously Ill African American Elders Regarding Advance Care Planning

Abstract

African Americans participate in advance care planning (ACP) less often and are more likely to opt for life sustaining treatment than non-Hispanic whites. Although prior quantitative and qualitative work has examined the perspectives and attitudes of African Americans, the voices of those who are most likely to confront situations requiring health care decision making—seriously ill African American elders—have not been well depicted. This study utilized literary representations, in the form of found data poetry, to further examine qualitative data from community dwelling, African American elders who were seriously ill. Found data poetry seeks to capture the participant’s voice intact, in an effort to better represent the individual. Reexamining the data yielded 9 found data poems that represented the voice of the participants and expressed strong feelings regarding ACP.