Spiritual perspective and death acceptance as correlates of the aggressiveness of elders' end-of-life treatment choices

Abstract

This study is based upon a life span developmental framework of aging and dying. A descriptive correlational study involving 54 healthy older adults was designed to study the relationships among three key variables represented in the conceptual framework: Spirituality, death acceptance and aggressiveness of end-of-life treatment selection. Five research questions were examined. Subjects desired less aggressive life-sustaining treatment for the dementia scenarios (mean: .24), and more aggressive treatment for the unconscious scenario (mean: .53). A significant relationship was demonstrated between spirituality and death acceptance (r = .44, p = .001 ). No significant correlations were found between death acceptance, spirituality, age or gender to aggressiveness of end-of-life treatment selected.