Department of Psychiatry, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Bucheon, The Republic of Korea.
Division of Hemato-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Wonkwang University, Gunpo, The Republic of Korea.
BMJ Open. 2021 Jan 22;11(1):e039470. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039470.
Life-sustaining treatment is any treatment that serves to prolong life without reversing the underlying medical conditions, and includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, haemodialysis and left ventricular assist devices. This study aimed to investigate the thoughts on life-sustaining treatment of Koreans and to assess the factors associated with deciding to not receive life-sustaining treatment if they develop a terminal disease.
Cross-sectional study.
Guro-gu centre for dementia from 1 May 2018 to 31 December 2019.
In total, 150 individuals participated in this study.
The questionnaire consisted of self-report items with some instructions, demographic characteristics, thoughts on life-sustaining treatment and psychosocial scales. The preferences of the participants were investigated on the assumption that they develop terminal cancer. The psychosocial scales included the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).
We classified our participants into two groups: individuals who wanted to receive life-sustaining treatment (IRLT) and individuals who wanted to not receive life-sustaining treatment (INLT). There were twice as many participants in the INLT group than there were in the IRLT. In making this decision, the INLT group focused more on physical and mental distress. Additionally, 32.7% of participants responded that terminal status was an optimal time for this decision, but more participants want to decide it earlier. The GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores were significantly higher in the INLT group than in the IRLT group. However, the INLT group had significantly lower MSPSS family scores.
Our findings can help assess issues regarding advance directives and life-sustaining treatment, and will be a reference for designing future studies on this issue.
维持生命的治疗是指任何旨在延长生命而不逆转潜在疾病状况的治疗，包括心肺复苏、机械通气、血液透析和左心室辅助装置。本研究旨在调查韩国人对维持生命治疗的想法，并评估如果他们患有终末期疾病，决定不接受维持生命治疗的相关因素。
横断面研究。
2018 年 5 月 1 日至 2019 年 12 月 31 日，位于古尔古区的痴呆症中心。
共有 150 人参与了这项研究。
问卷包括自我报告项目和一些说明，人口统计学特征，维持生命治疗的想法和社会心理量表。假设参与者患有晚期癌症，对他们的偏好进行了调查。社会心理量表包括广泛性焦虑障碍-7 量表（GAD-7）、患者健康问卷-9 量表（PHQ-9）、Connor-Davidson 韧性量表和多维感知社会支持量表（MSPSS）。
我们将参与者分为两组：想要接受维持生命治疗的组（IRLT）和不想接受维持生命治疗的组（INLT）。INLT 组的参与者人数是 IRLT 组的两倍。在做出这一决定时，INLT 组更关注身体和精神痛苦。此外，32.7%的参与者认为终末期是做出这一决定的最佳时机，但更多的参与者希望更早做出决定。INLT 组的 GAD-7 和 PHQ-9 评分明显高于 IRLT 组。然而，INLT 组的 MSPSS 家庭评分明显较低。
我们的研究结果可以帮助评估关于预先指示和维持生命治疗的问题，并为设计关于这一问题的未来研究提供参考。
