Philippkowski Sarah, O'Connor Moira, Eisma Maarten C, Willmott Lindy, Johnson Andrew R, Breen Lauren J
School of Psychology, Curtin University, Perth, WA6102, Australia.
WA Cancer Prevention Research Institute (WACPRU), School of Psychology, Perth, WA6102, Australia.
Palliat Support Care. 2021 Oct;19(5):558-562. doi: 10.1017/S1478951520001352.
Studies in countries where assisted dying is legal show that bereaved people express concern over the potential for social disapproval and social stigma because of the manner of death. There are indications that voluntary assisted dying is judged as less acceptable if the deceased is younger. A vignette-based experiment was used to determine whether public stigma (i.e., negative emotional reactions and desired social distance) and expected grief symptoms are higher for conjugally bereaved people through voluntary assisted dying (vs. long-term illness), when the deceased is a young adult (vs. older adult).
A 2 × 2 randomized factorial design was conducted with 164 Australian adults (130 women, 34 men, Mage = 37.69 years). Each participant was randomized online to read one of four vignettes and completed measures of anger, fear, prosocial emotions, desire for social distance, and expectations of grief symptomatology.
A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. Death at a young age (28 years) was significantly associated with stronger negative emotional reactions of fear ($\eta _p^2 = 0.04$, P = 0.048) and anger ($\eta _p^2 = 0.06$, P = 0.010). There were no differences in outcomes associated with the mode of death, nor was there an interaction between mode of death and age group.
Concerns that voluntary assisted dying elicits public stigma appear unfounded. The fact that participants reported significantly higher anger and fear in response to bereaved people experiencing loss at a younger (vs. older) age, irrespective of cause of death, indicates that young people who lose their spouse might benefit from additional support.
在协助死亡合法化的国家进行的研究表明，失去亲人的人会因死亡方式而担心遭到社会的不认可和污名化。有迹象表明，如果死者较年轻，自愿协助死亡被认为更不可接受。一项基于 vignette 的实验被用于确定，当死者为年轻成年人（相对于老年人）时，因自愿协助死亡（相对于长期疾病）而丧偶的人所面临的公众污名（即负面情绪反应和期望的社会距离）以及预期的悲伤症状是否更高。
对 164 名澳大利亚成年人（130 名女性，34 名男性，年龄中位数 = 37.69 岁）进行了 2×2 随机析因设计。每位参与者在网上被随机分配阅读四个 vignette 中的一个，并完成愤怒、恐惧、亲社会情绪、社会距离期望以及悲伤症状学预期的测量。
进行了多变量方差分析（MANOVA）。年轻时（28 岁）死亡与更强烈的恐惧负面情绪反应（偏 eta 方 = 0.04，P = 0.048）和愤怒（偏 eta 方 = 0.06，P = 0.010）显著相关。与死亡方式相关的结果没有差异，死亡方式和年龄组之间也没有交互作用。
认为自愿协助死亡会引发公众污名的担忧似乎没有根据。参与者报告称，无论死亡原因如何，对于在年轻时（相对于年长者）失去亲人的丧偶者，他们的愤怒和恐惧明显更高，这一事实表明，失去配偶的年轻人可能会从额外的支持中受益。
