From Conversation to Care: Advance Care Planning Conversations and Cultural Influences on End-of-Life Decisions

This seminar, held during National Advance Care Planning Week (16–22 March 2026), explores how meaningful conversations can shape care at the end of life.

From Conversation to Care: Advance Care Planning Conversations and Cultural Influences on End-of-Life Decisions brings together insights from communication research and cross-cultural perspectives to examine how advance care planning can better reflect people’s values, preferences and lived contexts.

Associate Professor Stuart Ekberg will explore how real-world healthcare interactions influence the quality and impact of advance care planning conversations, highlighting the role of communication in supporting person-centred decision-making. PhD candidate Yumi Naito will present research on cultural influences on end-of-life decision-making, drawing on work comparing practices in Japan and Australia, and considering how culture shapes communication, consent and care.

Convened by Dr Olivia Farrer, this Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death & Dying (RePaDD) seminar will be of interest to researchers, clinicians, policy makers and anyone working to improve advance care planning and end-of-life care. A Q&A session will follow the presentations.