Consistency in attitudes toward advance directive and life sustaining treatments between end-of-life cancer patients and their family members / 中华护理杂志

ABSTRACT

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.