A Questionnaire Survey of Attitudes About Cancer Disclosure, Brain Death, and Organ Transplantation Among Fifth-Year Medical Students / 医学教育

We conducted a questionnaire survey of attitudes about cancer disclosure, brain death, and organ transplantation among fifth-year medical students at Nagoya University from 2001 through 2003. Their attitudes about these topics did not change markedly during the period. Most students favored receiving information about their own diagnosis of cancer, but significantly fewer students favored informing their parents about their diagnosis. Students did not have a strong interest in brain death or organ transplantation. Less than 30% of students possessed donor cards. This survey indicates that attitudes about cancer disclosure, brain death, and organ transplantation among Japanese medical students remain different from those among Western medical students. Instruction designed to address these differences may be beneficial.

Activities Contributing to Happiness of Older Adults in Rural Communities / 日本農村医学会雑誌

Older adults tend to lose the opportunities and abilities to pursue hobbies and perform various activities. Club activities provided in the community for old people seem to be beneficial in that the activities prevent them from becoming housebound, and improve overall QOL. In the present study, we conducted a survey by sending out self-answered questionnaire to 424 elder residents in rural areas. We collected information about their life circumstances, the presence or absence of physical pain, activities of Daily Living (ADLs), the degree of enjoyment from activities on the list, the frequency of going out, PGC morale scale and so on. The activities enjoyed frequently by the elderly were bathing, eating and watching TV. The degrees of enjoying eating and bathing showed positive correlations with the PGC morale scale, but the degree of enjoying gambling correlated negatively with the scale. A regression analysis was performed with the PGC morale scale as dependent variables. As a result, a significant model was structured to predict the life sati of the aged by making interpersonal distress, enjoyment derived from gambling, basic ADLs, physical pain and dwelling alone as indepeudent variables. These results will assist us in providing adequate health care to pelple of advanced age.