Duberstein P R, Conwell Y, Cox C, Podgorski C A, Glazer R S, Caine E D
University of Rochester-NIMH Clinical Research Center for the Study of Psychopathology of the Elderly, NY, USA.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 1995 Apr;43(4):395-400. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1995.tb05814.x.
To survey physicians to determine whether sociodemographic and practice-related variables are predictive of their attitudes toward suicide.
Mailed questionnnaire survey.
Monroe County, New York.
A 50 percent random sample of practicing primary care physicians. Of 186 potential respondents, 114 (61.3%) physicians returned questionnaires.
In addition to age and gender, independent variables included medical specialty, practice composition defined in terms of patient age, and textbook knowledge of depression and suicide. The dependent variable, attitude toward suicide, was measured using four standard opinion survey questions and six items based on a case vignette. Dependent variables were rated on a Likert-type scale and subsequently dichotomized for use in logistic regression analysis.
Approximately 61 percent of the respondents believe that suicide can be rational under certain circumstances, 51 percent believe that physicians should not assist suicides under any circumstances, and 31 percent support legalization of assisted suicide under certain circumstances. Regression analyses revealed that gender was a significant predictor for three of the ten attitude items. Medical specialty, clinical and epidemiological knowledge of depression and suicide, and physician age significantly predicted one attitude item.
These results suggest that physicians' attitudes toward suicide are multidetermined. Although gender, age, medical specialty, and knowledge of depression and suicide predict certain attitudes, the logistic regression analyses were not highly successful in predicting respondents' attitudes. Given the power of physicians to command public attention and to influence public and legal opinion, it is vital that future research continue to explore the determinants of physicians' attitudes toward self-determined death.
对医生进行调查，以确定社会人口统计学和与执业相关的变量是否能预测他们对自杀的态度。
邮寄问卷调查。
纽约州门罗县。
执业初级保健医生的50%随机样本。在186名潜在受访者中，114名（61.3%）医生返回了问卷。
除年龄和性别外，自变量包括医学专业、根据患者年龄定义的执业构成，以及抑郁症和自杀的教科书知识。因变量，即对自杀的态度，通过四个标准意见调查问题和基于一个病例 vignette 的六个项目进行测量。因变量在李克特量表上进行评分，随后进行二分法处理以用于逻辑回归分析。
约61%的受访者认为在某些情况下自杀可能是合理的，51%的人认为医生在任何情况下都不应协助自杀，31%的人支持在某些情况下将协助自杀合法化。回归分析显示，性别是十个态度项目中三个项目的重要预测因素。医学专业、抑郁症和自杀的临床及流行病学知识，以及医生年龄显著预测了一个态度项目。
这些结果表明医生对自杀的态度是多因素决定的。尽管性别、年龄、医学专业以及抑郁症和自杀的知识能预测某些态度，但逻辑回归分析在预测受访者态度方面并不十分成功。鉴于医生有能力引起公众关注并影响公众和法律意见，未来的研究继续探索医生对自主死亡态度的确决定因素至关重要。
