What do laypersons consider as a good death.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to understand laypersons' attitude of good death.


METHODS
A 53-item Good-Death Questionnaire (GDQ) was generated by applying "good-death principles" and past research on good death in Chinese people.


RESULTS
A total of 184 adults completed the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha for the GDQ was 0.96. Factor analysis produced five factors: autonomy and choice, wish fulfillment, death preparation, spiritual support and afterlife, and symptom control. Elderly people had higher scores in "autonomy" than people aged < or = 40 (52.71 +/- 5.94 vs. 56.71 +/- 3.82, P = 0.012). Chaplains had higher scores in "death preparation" than volunteers (76.09 +/- 4.44 vs. 70.46 +/- 6.49, P = 0.011) and higher scores in "spiritual support" than volunteer and farmers-workers-businessmen (32.97 +/- 2.49 vs. 28.08 +/- 5.06 and 29.69 +/- 5.05, P = 0.002). People with Buddhist religious belief had higher scores in "spiritual support" than people without religious belief (31.10 +/- 3.99 vs. 25.73 +/- 3.13; P < 0.001). Religious devotion was positively related to "death preparation" and "spiritual support." People who had witnessed death had lower scores of "autonomy and choice" than the inexperienced (55.41 +/- 4.81 vs. 57.06 +/- 3.85; P = 0.032).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results identified some major characteristics of good-death attitude among laypersons. Religious devotion has a positive impact on the attitude of good death.
Leung
Kai-Kuen
KK
Department of Family Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, No.7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan 100, Republic of China.
Liu
Wen-Jing
WJ
Cheng
Shao-Yi
SY
Chiu
Tai-Yuan
TY
Chen
Ching-Yu
CY
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002681:China; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires