Facilitators and Barriers to Values Discussions Following LVAD Implantation: Perspectives from Diverse Patients and Family Caregivers

•Patients with a left ventricular assist device and family caregivers identified a total of 8 facilitators and 7 barriers to engaging in values discussions with their care partner and the healthcare team.•Facilitators to values discussions included a perceived close relationship, values alignment, clinician discussion initiation, facing an impending decision, 1-on-1 dyadic interactions, being assertive, positive dyadic communication, and involvement of a third party.•Barriers to values discussions included belief their values are already known, sensitivity about values, uncertainty about timing, poor clinical communication, patient hopelessness, perceived lack of clinician time, and self-report having a reserved personality.•Findings can provide clinicians insight into modifiable facilitators and barriers to values discussions to facilitate elicitation and incorporation of patient and family values into care. Background Delivering care that is responsive to who or what is most important to patients and family caregivers is a key aspect of quality care, yet it remains unclear how clinicians can best support individuals in expressing their personal values. We aimed to describe patient- and family caregiver-identified facilitators and barriers to engaging in values discussions with clinicians following implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Methods and results Using a qualitative descriptive approach, patients with an LVAD and their caregivers participated in one-on-one semi structured interviews and self-reported sociodemographics (January 2023-July 2023). Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were computed for quantitative data. Results Patients (n=27; ages 30-76 years) were predominantly male (59%) and non-Hispanic Black (67%). Caregivers (n=21; ages 27-76) were female (76%), non-Hispanic Black (67%), and a spouse/partner (62%). Facilitators (5 shared across patient/caregiver groups; 8 unique across patient/caregiver groups) included a perceived close relationship (patient/caregiver), values alignment (patient/caregiver), clinician discussion initiation (patient/caregiver), facing an impending decision (patient/caregiver), 1-on-1 dyadic interactions (patient/caregiver), being assertive (patient), positive dyadic communication (caregiver), and involvement of a third party (caregiver). Barriers (2 shared; 7 unique) included belief their values are already known (patient/caregiver), sensitivity abo