title: Attitudes towards care of the dying: a questionnaire survey of general practice attenders.
abstract: In order to determine the views of General Practice attenders on death and dying, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire with nine questions on aspects of death and dying. There were 4117 respondents with an average age of 36.4 years, who attended 10 general practices. A control group of 100 patients was employed. There was a stated preference for management by the General Practitioner and a wish to die in the home. An honest approach by doctors was called for and the greatest fear concerning death was that of leaving the family. A subgroup of people who stated that they had close personal experience of death or dying, amplified most of these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, Medical School, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Charlton
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D003643:Death; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*