Exploring shared care plans for older people regarding fulfillment of policy requirements and shared decision making - A qualitative study

The aim was to explore the documentation in shared care plans regarding the fulfilment of policy requirements and shared decision-making. The sample consists of 15 shared care plans established for older people in Sweden. The analysis was performed using directed content analysis. The requirements in the Swedish law and the 15 indicators of shared decision making (SDM) in the Multifocal Approach to the Sharing in SDM inventory was used to define the main categories. The policy requirements were fulfilled to a varied extent. All the care plans were established in collaboration between the municipality and the county council, but social services were not represented in six of them. The older person and next of kin were present at 14 of the care planning meetings. The individual’s agreement to the establishment was documented in ten of the plans but how and what the person had agreed to was not specified further. The headings focused at the policy requirements and did not support a care planning process, or a documentation based on SDM. Six out of 15 indicators of SDM were reflected. The decision-making process needs to be acknowledged more in the process of establishing shared care plans for older people.