Old and Depressed? What We Think About Ending Their Suffering—Attitudes Toward Euthanasia for Elderly Suffering From Physical Versus Mental Illness.
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| Title: | Old and Depressed? What We Think About Ending Their Suffering—Attitudes Toward Euthanasia for Elderly Suffering From Physical Versus Mental Illness. |
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| Authors: | Moshe, Shir1, Gershfeld-Litvin, Avital1 avitalgr@mta.ac.il |
| Source: | Omega: Journal of Death & Dying. Sep2022, Vol. 85 Issue 4, p1026-1041. 16p. 2 Charts. |
| Subject Terms: | *Chronic diseases, *Mental depression, Terminally ill, Critically ill, Age distribution, Patients, Right to die, Patients' attitudes, Severity of illness index, Euthanasia, Questionnaires, Suffering, Statistical sampling, Tumors, Mental illness, Old age |
| Abstract: | This study aims to extend our knowledge regarding attitudes toward euthanasia. Specifically, the effect of patient's age and illness type. 123 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups completed the Assessing Right to Die Attitudes (ARDA) questionnaire after reading a patients age (79 vs. 29 year old) and illness type (cancer vs. depression) description. Findings revealed more positive attitudes toward euthanasia when the patient was physically ill, as opposed to mentally ill. Participants' attitude towards euthanasia was more positive when the patient was elderly. Illness type as a function of the patient's age did not significantly influence attitudes towards euthanasia. The results of the current study reinforce the individual influence of illness type and of patient age on attitudes toward euthanasia, and suggest additional avenues for further research regarding their combined influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Omega: Journal of Death & Dying is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Abstract: | This study aims to extend our knowledge regarding attitudes toward euthanasia. Specifically, the effect of patient's age and illness type. 123 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups completed the Assessing Right to Die Attitudes (ARDA) questionnaire after reading a patients age (79 vs. 29 year old) and illness type (cancer vs. depression) description. Findings revealed more positive attitudes toward euthanasia when the patient was physically ill, as opposed to mentally ill. Participants' attitude towards euthanasia was more positive when the patient was elderly. Illness type as a function of the patient's age did not significantly influence attitudes towards euthanasia. The results of the current study reinforce the individual influence of illness type and of patient age on attitudes toward euthanasia, and suggest additional avenues for further research regarding their combined influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 00302228 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0030222820961241 |
