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Advance Directives and Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Advance directives (ADs) are documents that allow competent individuals to set forth their medical treatment wishes and/or to name a proxy in the event that they lose the capacity to communicate these decisions in the future. Despite the benefits of and support for such documents, very few people ha...
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Published in: | Western journal of nursing research 2002-03, Vol.24 (2), p.143-158 |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Advance directives (ADs) are documents that allow competent individuals to set forth their medical treatment wishes and/or to name a proxy in the event that they lose the capacity to communicate these decisions in the future. Despite the benefits of and support for such documents, very few people have completed an AD. This posttest-only experimental study examined whether an individualized intervention given to half of the older adults who attended an educational session increased the discussion and/or completion of ADs. Of the 74 participants, 25.7% (n = 19) completed an AD. There were no significant differences between control and intervention groups on the discussion and/or completion of ADs. Multivariate analysis indicated that perceived barriers were significantly associated with the discussion and completion of ADs. Content analysis revealed that major barriers to discussion and completion include procrastination and a reluctance to think about deteriorating health status and/or death. |
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ISSN: | 0193-9459 1552-8456 |
DOI: | 10.1177/019394590202400205 |