IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v53y2001i4p455-464.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chinese seniors' perspectives on end-of-life decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Bowman, Kerry W.
  • Singer, Peter A.

Abstract

Making end-of-life decisions is a painful and difficult process; one that can be intensified by cultural differences between physicians and their patients. The objective of this study was to examine attitudes of Chinese seniors towards end-of-life decisions. We conducted a qualitative survey in a Chinese community centre in Toronto, Canada. Face-to-face interviews, in Cantonese, were conducted with 40 Chinese seniors 65 years of age or older. Respondents based their end-of-life decision making on the following factors: hope, suffering and burden, the future, emotional harmony, the life cycle, respect for doctors, and the family. Respondents rejected advance directives. Respondents' attitudes toward end-of-life decision making can be understood through the lens of values from Confucianist, Buddhist and Taoist traditions. Health care workers can best achieve quality end-of-life care -- and address the cultural differences that may arise -- by focusing primarily on understanding the perspectives of patients and their families, and by continually striving for balanced and open communication at all stages of the caregiving process.

Suggested Citation

  • Bowman, Kerry W. & Singer, Peter A., 2001. "Chinese seniors' perspectives on end-of-life decisions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 455-464, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:53:y:2001:i:4:p:455-464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(00)00348-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Semra Ozdemir, 2015. "Improving the Validity of Stated-Preference Data in Health Research: The Potential of the Time-to-Think Approach," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 8(3), pages 247-255, June.
    2. Jing Liao & Bei Wu & Jing Mao & Ping Ni, 2020. "Preference for Aggressive End-of-Life Care among Advanced Cancer Patients in Wuhan, China: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Hu, Wen-Yu & Huang, Chien-Hsun & Chiu, Tai-Yuan & Hung, Shou-Hung & Peng, Jen-Kuei & Chen, Ching-Yu, 2010. "Factors that influence the participation of healthcare professionals in advance care planning for patients with terminal cancer: A nationwide survey in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1701-1704, June.
    4. Li-Shan Ke & Hui-Chuan Cheng & Chien-Liang Liu & Yu-Chen Ku & Ming-Ju Lee & Yin-Ling Lin & Hsiu-Ying Huang, 2023. "Taiwanese Older Adults Prefer to Use Antibiotics and Intravenous Infusion at the End of Life based on a Cartoon Version of the Life Support Preferences Questionnaire," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, February.
    5. Zivkovic, Tanya, 2018. "Forecasting and foreclosing futures: The temporal dissonance of advance care directives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 16-22.
    6. Carmen W. H. Chan & Martin M. H. Wong & Kai Chow Choi & Helen Y. L. Chan & Amy Y. M. Chow & Raymond S. K. Lo & Michael M. K. Sham, 2019. "Prevalence, Perception, and Predictors of Advance Directives among Hong Kong Chinese: A Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Aeju Kim & Yucheon Kim & Jongtae Rhee & Songyi Lee & Youngil Jeong & Jeongeun Lee & Youngeun Yoo & Haechan Kim & Hyeonji So & Junhyeong Park, 2022. "A Study on Emotions to Improve the Quality of Life of South Korean Senior Patients Residing in Convalescent Hospitals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Amberyce Ang & Loy Liang Meng, 2020. "Using Vignettes to Conduct a Dynamic Value-based Approach to Advance Care Planning," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 31(3), pages 24291-24297, October.
    9. Zivkovic, Tanya, 2021. "About face: Relationalities of ageing and dying in Chinese migrant families," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:53:y:2001:i:4:p:455-464. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.