Selected Factors Related to Living will in Persons with Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: Aimed to examine the living will in persons with cancer and the relationships between age, stage of disease, symptom severity, knowledge on living will, death anxiety, social support, and the living will in persons with cancer.

Design: Descriptive correlational research

Methods: The sample group consisted of 180 individuals who have been diagnosed  with cancer and received services at the cancer outpatient department of tertiary hospitals in the Bangkok metropolitan area. The research tools including the personal information questionnaire, Questionnaire for making a living will, the knowledge assessment form about making a living will have had a KR-20 value of .81. The severity of symptoms Questionnaire, Death Anxiety Questionnaire and social support questionnaire have had Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .88, .90, and .89, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and logistic regression.

Results: The research results found that the sample group was 180 people with cancer who made a living will 67 people with accounting for 37.2 percent, and people with cancer who did not make a living will 113 people with accounting for 62.8 percent. The majority doing it by means of notification 49.2 percent. Factors that cause more people with cancer to make living wills include people aged 60 years and over with advanced stage cancer, severity of symptoms, and knowledge about making a living will (OR= 2.63, 7.59, 1.05, 1.79 respectively, p<.05) and factors that cause people with cancer to make a living will to decrease was anxiety about death (OR= 0.87, p<.05).