Table 2.

Descriptive quotations of selected communication topics

Communication topic	Illustrative quote
Prognosis	Interviewer: Okay. And was that information that you wanted?
	Caregiver: That’s a very tough question, and the reason it’s tough is because you have to maintain hope and to maintain hope you can’t have a deadline by which there’s gonna be an end. So that’s a loaded question and I don’t think I can answer it. Yeah. (Caregiver 10, wife)
EOL expectations & planning	I was so very frustrated at the end because I thought maybe he could last six months. But nobody told me that he couldn’t and nobody told me that he could. And the end came so quickly…And my daughter and I were screaming at each other the day before he died. I said he’s got to be out of this house. We can’t do this anymore. It was desperate. It was horrible. It was not calm. It was not peaceful. It was horrific. We went five days of him hanging on, and nobody prepared me for that – that it could last that long and his bodily functions were still functioning, but he was not. (Caregiver 13, wife)