The Public and Nurses ’ Viewpoints of Euthanasia

1. The Public and Nurses’Viewpoints of Euthanasia Heo, Yang - Hee The Catholic University of Korea, Graduate School

2. Necessities of Research • Compare and analyze the public and nurses’ viewpoints of Euthanasia • Bring social acceptance in Euthanasia

3. Purposes of Research • Levels of acceptance in Euthanasia • Reasons for patient’s demand of Euthanasia • Attitudes toward Euthanasia • Levels of Acceptance in Living will • Differences in Acceptance of Living will

4. Definitions • Active Euthanasia : aim to discontinue life, injection of poisons • Passive Euthanasia : neglect to delay the procedure of death, removal of ventilator or feeding tube • Living will : states clauses about his(her) life indicates his(her) desires incurable disease

5. Research Methods 1. Architect of Research Descriptive research for comparison in the public and nurses’ opinions about Euthanasia through questionnaire

6. Research Methods 2. Research Targets • 220 nurses who are caring patients in terminal stage at 2 general hospitals(Seoul City) and 1 general hospital(Kyonggi Province) • 200 ordinary people excluding medical employees

7. Research Tool • Use Ms. Lee,Gum-ja’s Tool • Components of questionnaire - Demographic characteristics : public(7), nurses(6) - Euthanasia-related questions : 4 - Attitudes toward Euthanasia : 25 - Cronbach’s α : .68

8. Collection of Questionnaire Period: July 8,’05 ~ July 15,’05 • Rate of Responsiveness : 95.5% - Nurses :196 out of 220 - Public :186 out of 200

9. Analysis of Questionnaire • SPSS Program - Demographic characteristics : real number, percentage - Levels of acceptance in Euthanasia : real number, percentage, χ² - Reasons for demand of Euthanasia : real number, percentage - Differences in attitude toward Euthanasia : average, standard deviation, t-test - Levels of Living will : real number, percentage, χ² - Differences in levels of Living will : real number, percentage, χ²

10. Limitation in Research Since the research has been carried out by nurses working at 3 general hospitals (2 in Seoul,1 in Gyonggi Province) and the public excluding patients and medical employees, it is not very easy to consider its results general.

11. Research Results

12. Demographic Features in Research Targets

13. Demographic Features in Research Targets

14. The public respondents’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self and for family member him(her)self family member items n % n % yes 152 81.7 114 61.3 no 34 18.3 72 38.7 total 186 100 186 100 p. euthanasia 79 52 79 69.3 a. euthanasia 73 48 35 30.7 total 152 100 114 100

15. The nurses’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self and for family member him(her)self family member items n % n % yes 157 80.1 114 58.2 no 39 19.9 82 41.8 total 196 100 196 100 passive euthanasia 115 73.2 99 86.8 active euthanasia42 26.8 15 13.2 total 157 100 114 100

16. Levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self based on demographic characteristics public nurses item χ² ( p) itemχ² ( p) marital status 6.305 (.013) age 6.799 (.045) children 7.042 (.009) years of work 7.126 (.04) level of education 5.917 (.046) dept.of work 15.887 (.035)

17. The public respondents’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self based on demographic characteristics items active passive euthanasia % euthanasia % marital status married 56.5 single 64.6 children yes 57.8 none 63.8 level of edu. below high sch. 55.9 above college 54.7

18. The nurses’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self based on demographic characteristics itemsP. Euthanasia % itemsP. Euthanasia % age 20s 62.5 dept.of IM 73. 30s 78.1 work OBGY 87.5 above40s 100 PED82.0 years of 1 ~ 3yrs 74.1NS 65.2 work 4 ~ 7yrs 65.6 SICU 100 8 ~11yrs 76.5 ER 70.0 above12yrs 90.5 HD 100 GS 67.9 OS 20.0

19. The public respondents’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for family member based on demographic characteristics items χ²p p. euthanasia % age 7.450 .042 20s 83.3 30s 71.1 40s 61.9 above 50s 56 marital status 5.958 .015 married 61.8 single 84.2 children 10.124 .001 yes 57.6 none 85.4 occupation 9.714 .043 clerical worker 85.7 govt/teacher 74.1 services 64.5 none 56.3 others 80

20. The nurses’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for family member based on demographic characteristics Dept.of work χ² : 14.836 p : .048 • Passive Euthanasia (%) IM OBGY PED NS ER HD GS OS

21. Levels of Acceptance in Living will based on demographic characteristics public nurses items χ²p yes(%) items χ² p yes(%) gender 5.541 .031 male 85.5 gender 3.929 .045 male 75 female 92.7 female 93.2 marital 4.012 .040 married 92.9 status single 84.9

22. Levels of Acceptance in Living will based on the public and nurses’ characteristics yes no items χ² ( p ) n % n % public 172 89.1 21 10.9 5.368 ( 0.032 ) nurses 175 93.6 12 6.4

23. Reasons for patients’ demand of Euthanasia

24. The pubic and nurses’ attitudes toward Euthanasia 1

25. The pubic and nurses’ attitudes toward Euthanasia Ⅱ

26. Results • Levels of Acceptance in Euthanasia: Positive (personal > family member) • Reasons for patient’s demand of Euthanasia - Present pains > Loss of significance in life • Attitudes toward Euthanasia - Positive, Survey showed 6 items • Levels of Acceptance in Living Will: Positive

27. Conclusion • Choice of Life Dependent on patient’s own opinion • Acceptance of Euthanasia in society Objective, moral indicators Society and government’s responsibility Law and regulations to prevent hidden practice of euthanasia should be made

28. Suggestion • Steadfast concerns and research about socially-accepted values and philosophy about life and death • Survey and analysis of euthanasia-related cases • Continuous educate nurses about euthanasia of Bioethics

29. Thanks for your attention