Attitudes of the Critically III Toward Prolonging Life: The Role of Social Support
Open Access
- 1 April 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Gerontologist
- Vol. 37 (2) , 192-199
- https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/37.2.192
Abstract
Desires to prolong life were investigated in a hospitalized sample of 212 persons over age 50 whose illnesses were severe and who had an average life expectancy of six to twelve months. The importance of social support was emphasized in defining the context in which the stressors of unfinished business and fear of death prompted desires to prolong life. Interactions existed in predicting desires for prolonging life based on ethnicity and whether respondents did or did not have sustained family contact. Family contact and salience increased the desire to live longer for African Americans, but not for Whites.Keywords
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: