Changes in Attitudes Toward Life and Death as a Result of Participating in Death Cafes：The Effectiveness of Death Cafes in ACP Preparedness

Abstract

The practice of Advance Care Planning（ACP）has been recommended. Despite efforts in the medical, nursing, and long-term care fields, ACP is not well appreciated among the elderly and the people around them in the community, and thus we believe that a place where people can spontaneously express their thoughts about death in their daily lives is necessary to spread ACP. In the present study, we focused on the death cafe and conducted focus group interviews with 24 participants in their 20s to 60s and over who had participated in death cafes, divided into four groups, to examine whether death cafe could change their attitudes toward life and death in preparation for ACP practice. Qualitative content analysis using the group focus method revealed three categories: [began to think about life], [began to think about death], and [stopped thinking about life and death]. The results of the detailed examination of each subcategory indicated that changes that corresponded to the first two categories serve as preparatory for the ACP.