Developmental and contextual correlates of elders' anticipated end-of-life treatment decisions.
The purpose of this study was to gain insight into developmental and contextual correlates of the aggressiveness in treatment that community-based elders anticipate they will desire at the end of life. Elders completed questionnaires to measure 4 developmental factors (integrated moral reasoning, self-transcendence, past experience with life-threatening illness, and age) and five contextual factors (education level, gender, ethnicity, current health status, and completion of a living will). The variance in desired aggressiveness in treatment was explained by both developmental and contextual correlates. Integrated moral reasoning emerged as a new variable to consider in gaining understanding of the process of end-of-life decisions.
Decker
Ilene M
IM
College of Health Professions, Northern Arizona University, Box 15015, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. ilene.decker@nau.edu
Reed
Pamela G
PG
D016223:Advance Directives; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People; D003657:Decision Making; D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People