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Objective To investigate and analyze consistency in attitudes toward advance directive and life sustaining treatments between cancer patients and their family members.Methods Totally 242 pairs of cancer patients and family members were involved in the research through convenience sampling from two tertiary hospitals.We investigated consistency in attitudes toward advance directive and life sustaining treatments between cancer patients and their family members using questionnaire of attitudes toward advance directive.Results After explanation of advance directive,51.65％ of cancer patients would like to make advance directive.Most of the family members(89.26％) said they would like to follow patients' wishes if they made advance directive.The consistency in attitudes toward advance directive between cancer patients and their family members were "willing" accounting 48.35％,and "not willing" accounting for 1.65％,with weak consistency(Kappa value was 0.05,P＞0.05).The consistency in attitudes toward life sustaining treatments between cancer patients and their family members were "willing" accounting for 16.94％～38.84％,"not willing" accounting for 1.65％～4.96％,and "never considered" accounting for 9.92％～17.77％,with weak consistency(Kappa value was 0.09-0.18,P＜0.05).Conclusion Cancer patients and their family members show positive attitudes toward advance directive without too many differences.Family members' choices on life sustaining treatments cannot fully represent patients' wishes.
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@#BACKGROUND:Life-sustaining treatments (LSTs) may prolong life but greatly decrease the quality of death. One factor influencing decision-making about withholding and withdrawing these treatments is the attitude of nurses. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of critical care nurses towards life-sustaining treatments in South East Iran. METHODS:In this cross-sectional study, "Ethnicity and Attitudes towards Advance Care Directives Questionnaire" was used to investigate the attitude of 104 critical care nurses towards life-sustaining treatments in three hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. RESULTS:The findings of this study indicated that although a majority of critical care nurses (77％) did not have personal desire for use of LSTs including CPR and mechanical ventilation, they had moderately negative to neutral attitude towards general use of LSTs (2.95 of 5). CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that nurses' attitude towards LSTs can be changed by inclusion of specific courses about death, palliative care and life-sustaining treatments in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing curricula. Educating Muslim nurses about religious aspects of LSTs may also improve their attitudes.