title: Attitudes of the critically ill toward prolonging life: the role of social support.
abstract: Desires to prolong life were investigated in a hospitalized sample of 212 persons over age 50 whose illnesses were severe and who had an average life expectancy of six to twelve months. The importance of social support was emphasized in defining the context in which the stressors of unfinished business and fear of death prompted desires to prolong life. Interactions existed in predicting desires for prolonging life based on ethnicity and whether respondents did or did not have sustained family contact. Family contact and salience increased the desire to live longer for African Americans, but not for Whites.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599-7400, USA.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Mutran
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Danis
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Bratton
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sudha
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hanson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001293:Attitude to Death; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009657:North Carolina; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors