Predictive Factor s for City Dweller s’ Attitudes toward Death with Dignity

Abstract

Purpose: This correlation study was performed to examine Korean adults' perceptions and attitudes towards death with dignity and the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment and to identify factors that predict their attitude towards death with dignity. Methods: The study was conducted using convenience sampling of 291 adults from three towns of a metropolitan city in Korea. Data were collected using structured questionnaires which surveyed people's perception about and attitudes towards withdrawal of life sustaining treatment and scaled their attitude towards death with dignity. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression. Results: The attitude towards the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment and death with dignity showed a significant positive correlation (r=0.49, P＜0.001). For attitudes towards death with dignity, significant predictors were attitudes towards the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment, age, religion, a proper withdrawal process and advanced medical directives, which explained 49.3% of total variance. Conclusion: The results of this study may contribute to development of a new medical decision-making system including nurses' appropriate roles in the process of withdrawing life sustaining treatment and advanced medical directives.

Factors That Influence Attitudes toward Advance Directives among Female Cancer Patients

“…In order to encourage a positive attitude toward ADs among female cancer patients, their knowledge of ADs must be increased by providing them with information about ADs and enhancing their understanding. However, even among those who know about ADs, if people do not know the terms of ADs, the implementation rate will decrease [ 19 ]. To improve this, patients should first understand how to write ADs, their terms, definitions related to ADs, different types of life-sustaining treatment, and information about hospice.…”

“…To improve this, patients should first understand how to write ADs, their terms, definitions related to ADs, different types of life-sustaining treatment, and information about hospice. In a study of the predictors of city dwellers’ attitudes toward dignified death [ 19 ], attitudes toward the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment had the greatest influence. Therefore, in order to improve the attitudes of female cancer patients toward dignified death, patients should be encouraged to think about their life and death and share their opinions about life-sustaining treatment with their family members and friends when they become terminally ill.…”

“…A dignified death refers to a death in which the individual maintains dignity as a human being and faces a peaceful death [ 18 ]. Based on previous studies that found that positive attitudes toward dignified death and a higher level of knowledge about ADs were associated with positive attitudes toward ADs [ 15 ] and that making decisions about ADs was desirable in relation to dignified death [ 19 ], the relationships between knowledge about ADs, attitudes toward ADs, and attitudes toward dignified death must be examined further. However, previous studies on attitudes toward ADs have focused on nursing students [ 20 ], older adults [ 17 ], adults [ 15 ], and cancer patients in general [ 16 , 21 ], and studies examining the characteristics of female cancer patients in particular are insufficient.…”

“…A dignified death refers to a death in which the individual maintains dignity as a human being and faces a peaceful death [18]. Based on previous studies that found that positive attitudes toward dignified death and a higher level of knowledge about ADs were associated with positive attitudes toward ADs [15] and that making decisions about ADs was desirable in relation to dignified death [19], the relationships between knowledge about ADs, attitudes toward ADs, and attitudes toward dignified death must be examined further.…”

A resonant frequency switching scheme of a cantilever based on polyvinylidene fluoride for vibration energy harvesting

“…The commonly used method of widening the operating bandwidth is via a harvester array [5,6]. In general, the array has a wide operating frequency because it is composed of several oscillators that have different resonant frequencies.…”