Expectations in the Communication About Death and Dying From a Caregiver’s Perspective: The End-Of-Life Conversation – Expectation Scale – Caregiver (EOLC-E-c)

Communication about the end-of-life (EOL) is often avoided, despite its association with positive outcomes for those affected and their caregivers. Negative expectations seem to be a mechanism through which avoidance is maintained. This study examined existing expectations in talking about death to a significant other and validated a caregiver’s version of the End-of-Life Conversation – Expectation Scale (EOLC-E-c) with a German community sample of N = 250. Participants most frequently expected EOL conversations to cause sadness in themselves and the other person. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original three-factor structure: Expected own emotional burden (α = .92), expected emotional burden of the other person (α = .94), and communication self-efficacy (=.90). Internal consistency of the scale was excellent, and its validity was supported. Using the scale could be valuable for clinicians and researchers in understanding individuals’ expectations concerning EOL conversations and in developing targeted interventions focusing on expectation violation.