Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Peer-reviewed articles of empirical research.

• Gray literature including reports, policy literature, dissertations, and white papers of relevant organizations (e.g., European Association for Palliative Care, World Health Organization, International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care) regarding palliative (nursing) care.

• Containing fundamentals of end-of-life communication as part of advance care planning from the perspective of nursing staff (i.e., care assistants, certified nursing assistants, licensed vocational nurses, registered nurses, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners), or (family caregivers of) older people in the hospital, nursing home or home care setting.

 o Studies that include healthcare professionals or clinicians in general will be included if nursing staff represents > 50% of the included professionals.

 o If older people are not specifically included in a study, the article will be included if the mean or median age of the included people is at least 65 years.

Exclusion criteria

• Not written in English or Dutch.

• Published before 2010.

• Studies regarding advance care planning that do not meet the definition: a comprehensive, and ongoing process that enables individuals to define goals and preferences for future medical treatment and care, discuss these goals and preferences with family and healthcare professionals, and record and adapt these preferences if appropriate.

• Studies regarding end-of-life communication as part of advance care planning that do not meet the definition: early and proactive formal (i.e., predetermined) and informal (i.e., spontaneous) conversations between a person, family, and healthcare professional about future end-of-life care, the transition to the end-of-life phase, death, and dying from a holistic perspective. For example, conversations at the end-of-life about current care or conversations with the family caregiver about the older person while the older person is not present.