Problematizing “Planning Ahead”: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Vietnamese Health and Community Workers’ Perspectives on Advance Care Directives

Journal Article · 06 August 2021 · Qualitative Health Research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323211023453 · OSTI ID:1812385

Nguyen, Nga  ^[1]; Zivkovic, Tanya  ^[1]; de Haas, Rachael ^[1]; Faulkner, Debbie ^[2]

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1. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
2. University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Informed by values of autonomy and self-determination, advance care planning assumes that individuals should independently take control of their future health. In this article, we draw on research conducted with Vietnamese health and community workers to problematize individualized approaches to planning ahead, reframe notions of “cultural and linguistic barriers,” and expose how homogeneous messages about care at the end of life are not readily translatable within and across diverse groups. Anthropological and feminist critiques of inclusion and exclusion are used to reorientate Anglophone framings of the individual and of cultural and linguistic differences. In this article, we suggest that it is the narrow singularity of care for the self—rather than diverse relationalities of care—that should be overcome if aging and end-of-life care policy and practice is to be broadened and made relevant to migrant and non-English-speaking groups.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 1812385
• Journal Information: Qualitative Health Research, Journal Name: Qualitative Health Research Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 31; ISSN 1049-7323
• Publisher: SAGE PublicationsCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English