Could life story work support relational autonomy in advance care planning? Stories from the EARLI project.

Objective: Advance care planning has evolved from a narrow focus on advance directives completion towards a greater emphasis on ongoing conversations and value clarification. This evolution aligns with a relational perspective on autonomy in a social context. However, limited research explores how relational autonomy might be operationalised in practice. Life story work is a novel approach that may serve to operationalise relational autonomy in advance care planning.

Methods: This paper presents three vignettes from the Enhanced Advance Care Planning and Life Review Longitudinal Intervention (EARLI) project, an arts-based intervention that uses life story work to support advance care planning among older adults living in the community.

Results: The vignettes illustrated how life story work facilitated discussions about values and preferences, enhanced relational autonomy and influenced participants' engagement with advance care planning across different stages.

Conclusions: Integrating life story work into advance care planning provides a practical approach to fostering relational autonomy. This method offers insight into the ways personal narratives can shape decision-making and communication within the advance care planning process.