Advance care planning (ACP) has been framed as best practice for quality palliative care, yet a growing body of literature affirms the need for an early iterative ACP process to begin when people are young and healthy. A significant gap appears to exist in the literature regarding the utility of death conversations outside the end-of-life context. Could 'death conversations' early in life be an effective tool by which doctor and patient can co-construct a more healthful way of life, and realistic relationship with death? And what variables must be taken into account for these conversations to proceed successfully? This paper provides a narrative exploration of the value of death conversations in the clinical context in New Zealand. Five exemplars are discussed, drawn from a sample of 21 semi-structured interviews with young older adults (54-65 years old) not receiving palliative care or diagnosed with a terminal illness. Together, these narratives indicate that further community consultation is required to determine culturally appropriate ways to initiate productive conversations around aging, death and dying and how to build patient/practitioner/family relationships which allow these conversations to happen safely. There is a need to acknowledge the important factor of culture related to age, generation, sex, faith and ethnicity when engaging in conversations about aging, death and dying. By doing so, health professionals will be best equipped to assist their patients to live well into death.
Keywords: Advance care planning; New Zealand; culture; death conversations; narratives.