title: Perceptions of autonomy in the care of elderly people in five European countries.
abstract: The focus of this article is perceptions of elderly patients and nurses regarding patients' autonomy in nursing practice. Autonomy is empirically defined as having two components: information received/given as a prerequisite and decision making as the action. The results indicated differences between staff and patient perceptions of patient autonomy for both components in all five countries in which this survey was conducted. There were also differences between countries in the perceptions of patients and nurses regarding the frequency with which patients received information from nursing staff or were offered opportunities to make decisions. This is the second of a set of five articles published together in this issue of Nursing Ethics in which the results of this comparative research project are presented.
authors.affiliation: University of Stirling, UK.
authors.forename: P Anne
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Maritta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Välimäki
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leino-Kilpi
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dassen
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gasull
authors.forename: Chryssoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lemonidou
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arndt
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schopp
authors.forename: Riitta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suhonen
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaljonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D005858:Germany; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D010358:Patient Participation; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012606:Scotland; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires