Should euthanasia and assisted suicide for psychiatric disorders be permitted? A systematic review of reasons

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1241-1256
Author(s):  
Marie E. Nicolini ◽  
Scott Y. H. Kim ◽  
Madison E. Churchill ◽  
Chris Gastmans

AbstractBackgroundEuthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) based on a psychiatric disorder (psychiatric EAS) continue to pose ethical and policy challenges, even in countries where the practice has been allowed for years. We conducted a systematic review of reasons, a specific type of review for bioethical questions designed to inform rational policy-making. Our aims were twofold: (1) to systematically identify all published reasons for and against the practice (2) to identify current gaps in the debate and areas for future research.MethodsFollowing the PRISMA guidelines, we performed a search across seven electronic databases to include publications focusing on psychiatric EAS and providing ethical reasons. Reasons were grouped into domains by qualitative content analysis.ResultsWe included 42 articles, most of which were written after 2013. Articles in favor and against were evenly distributed. Articles in favor were mostly full-length pieces written by non-clinicians, with articles against mostly reactive, commentary-type pieces written by clinicians. Reasons were categorized into eight domains: (1) mental and physical illness and suffering (2) decisional capacity (3) irremediability (4) goals of medicine and psychiatry (5) consequences for mental health care (6) psychiatric EAS and suicide (7) self-determination and authenticity (8) psychiatric EAS and refusal of life-sustaining treatment. Parity- (or discrimination-) based reasons were dominant across domains, mostly argued for by non-clinicians, while policy reasons were mostly pointed to by clinicians.ConclusionsThe ethical debate about psychiatric EAS is relatively young, with prominent reasons of parity. More direct engagement is needed to address ethical and policy considerations.

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
John L. Luckner ◽  
Rashida Banerjee ◽  
Sara Movahedazarhouligh ◽  
Kaitlyn Millen

Current federal legislation emphasizes the use of programs, interventions, strategies, and activities that have been demonstrated through research to be effective. One way to increase the quantity and quality of research that guides practice is to conduct replication research. The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the replication research focused on self-determination conducted between 2007 and 2017. Using methods used by Cook and colleagues, we identified 80 intervention studies on topics related to self-determination, of which 31 were coded as replications. Intervention study trends, rate of replication studies, percentage of agreements between findings of original and replication studies, amount of author overlap, and types of research designs used are reported along with recommendations for future research.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009539972096451
Author(s):  
Vincent Jacquet ◽  
Ramon van der Does

Policy-makers are increasingly experimenting with various ways to involve citizens in policy-making. Deliberative forums composed of lay citizens (minipublics) count among the most popular of such innovations. Despite their popularity, it is often unclear in what ways such minipublics could affect policy-making. This article addresses this issue of conceptual ambiguity by drawing on an original systematic review of the literature. It shows that the literature has approached these consequences in three ways: congruence with decisions, consideration in the policy-making process, and structural change. The article discusses the implications for empirical research and points out trajectories for future research on deliberative minipublics.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marit Silén ◽  
Mia Svantesson ◽  
Gerd Ahlström

The aim of this study was to describe nurses' conceptions of decision making with regard to life-sustaining treatment for dialysis patients. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 13 nurses caring for such patients at three hospitals. The interview material was subjected to qualitative content analysis. The nurses saw decision making as being characterized by uncertainty and by lack of communication and collaboration among all concerned. They described different ways of handling decision making, as well as insufficiency of physician—nurse collaboration, lack of confidence in physicians, hindrances to patient participation, and ambivalence about the role of patients' next of kin. Future research should test models for facilitating communication and decision making so that decisions will emerge from collaboration of all concerned. Nurses' role in decision making also needs to be discussed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Donald ◽  
Emma L Bradshaw ◽  
Richard Ryan ◽  
Geetanjali Basarkod ◽  
Joseph Ciarrochi ◽  
...  

Mindfulness has been shown to have varied associations with different forms of motivation, leading to a lack of clarity as to how and when it may foster healthy motivational states. Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study proposes a theoretical model for how mindfulness supports different forms of human motivation, and then tests this via meta-analysis. A systematic review identified 89 relevant studies (N = 25,176), comprised of 104 independent datasets and 200 effect sizes. We used a three-level modelling approach to meta-analyze these data. Across both correlational and intervention studies, we found consistent support for mindfulness predicting more autonomous forms of motivation; and among correlational studies, less controlled motivation and amotivation. We conducted moderation analyses to probe heterogeneity in the effects, including bias within studies. We conclude by highlighting substantive and methodological issues that need to be addressed in future research in this area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 1121-1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Donald ◽  
Emma L. Bradshaw ◽  
Richard M. Ryan ◽  
Geetanjali Basarkod ◽  
Joseph Ciarrochi ◽  
...  

Mindfulness has been shown to have varied associations with different forms of motivation, leading to a lack of clarity as to how and when it may foster healthy motivational states. Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study proposes a theoretical model for how mindfulness supports different forms of human motivation, and then tests this via meta-analysis. A systematic review identified 89 relevant studies ( N = 25,176), comprising 104 independent data sets and 200 effect sizes. We used a three-level modeling approach to meta-analyze these data. Across both correlational and intervention studies, we found consistent support for mindfulness predicting more autonomous forms of motivation and, among correlational studies, less controlled motivation and amotivation. We conducted moderation analyses to probe heterogeneity in the effects, including bias within studies. We conclude by highlighting substantive and methodological issues that need to be addressed in future research in this area.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 983-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Taylor ◽  
Yan Xia

With recent technological advances, cyber partner abuse has become increasingly problematic. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the existing literature on cyber partner abuse. This systematic review examines the characteristics and conceptualizations in the cyber partner abuse literature as well as the major topics the research has explored. Literature searches used keywords related to cyber partner abuse. In total, 37 articles were included in this review. Inductive qualitative content analysis methods were used to generate codes and themes from the identified articles. Results detail the study characteristics and conceptualizations in the cyber partner abuse research. Additionally, common thematic patterns reported by researchers in the literature are discussed. Specific recommendations for future research and practice stem from this review and are provided.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 326-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Weidner ◽  
Joneen Lowman

Purpose We conducted a systematic review of the literature regarding adult telepractice services (screening, assessment, and treatment) from approximately 2014 to 2019. Method Thirty-one relevant studies were identified from a literature search, assessed for quality, and reported. Results Included studies illustrated feasibility, efficacy, diagnostic accuracy, and noninferiority of various speech-language pathology services across adult populations, including chronic aphasia, Parkinson's disease, dysphagia, and primary progressive aphasia. Technical aspects of the equipment and software used to deliver services were discussed. Some general themes were noted as areas for future research. Conclusion Overall, results of the review continue to support the use of telepractice as an appropriate service delivery model in speech-language pathology for adults. Strong research designs, including experimental control, across multiple well-described settings are still needed to definitively determine effectiveness of telepractice services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 1444-1469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Vasconcellos ◽  
Philip D. Parker ◽  
Toni Hilland ◽  
Renata Cinelli ◽  
Katherine B. Owen ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt D Shulver ◽  
Nicholas A Badcock

We report the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the relationship between perceptual anchoring and dyslexia. Our goal was to assess the direction and degree of effect between perceptual anchoring and reading ability in typical and atypical (dyslexic) readers. We performed a literature search of experiments explicitly assessing perceptual anchoring and reading ability using PsycInfo (Ovid, 1860 to 2020), MEDLINE (Ovid, 1860 to 2019), EMBASE (Ovid, 1883 to 2019), and PubMed for all available years up to June (2020). Our eligibility criteria consisted of English-language articles and, at minimum, one experimental group identified as dyslexic - either by reading assessment at the time, or by previous diagnosis. We assessed for risk of bias using an adapted version of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Six studies were included in this review, but only five (n = 280 participants) were included in the meta-analysis (we were unable to access the necessary data for one study).The overall effect was negative, large and statistically significant; g = -0.87, 95% CI [-1.47, 0.27]: a negative effect size indicating less perceptual anchoring in dyslexic versus non-dyslexic groups. Visual assessment of funnel plot and Egger’s test suggest minimal bias but with significant heterogeneity; Q (4) = 9.70, PI (prediction interval) [-2.32, -0.58]. The primary limitation of the current review is the small number of included studies. We discuss methodological limitations, such as limited power, and how future research may redress these concerns. The variability of effect sizes appears consistent with the inherent variability within subtypes of dyslexia. This level of dispersion seems indicative of the how we define cut-off thresholds between typical reading and dyslexia populations, but also the methodological tools we use to investigate individual performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Mandela ◽  
Maggie Bellew ◽  
Paul Chumas ◽  
Hannah Nash

OBJECTIVEThere are currently no guidelines for the optimum age for surgical treatment of craniosynostosis. This systematic review summarizes and assesses evidence on whether there is an optimal age for surgery in terms of neurodevelopmental outcomes.METHODSThe databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Embase + Embase Classic, and Web of Science were searched between October and November 2016 and searches were repeated in July 2017. According to PICO (participants, intervention, comparison, outcome) criteria, studies were included that focused on: children diagnosed with nonsyndromic craniosynostosis, aged ≤ 5 years at time of surgery; corrective surgery for nonsyndromic craniosynostosis; comparison of age-at-surgery groups; and tests of cognitive and neurodevelopmental postoperative outcomes. Studies that did not compare age-at-surgery groups (e.g., those employing a correlational design alone) were excluded. Data were double-extracted by 2 authors using a modified version of the Cochrane data extraction form.RESULTSTen studies met the specified criteria; 5 found a beneficial effect of earlier surgery, and 5 did not. No study found a beneficial effect of later surgery. No study collected data on length of anesthetic exposure and only 1 study collected data on sociodemographic factors.CONCLUSIONSIt was difficult to draw firm conclusions from the results due to multiple confounding factors. There is some inconclusive evidence that earlier surgery is beneficial for patients with sagittal synostosis. The picture is even more mixed for other subtypes. There is no evidence that later surgery is beneficial. The authors recommend that future research use agreed-upon parameters for: age-at-surgery cut-offs, follow-up times, and outcome measures.


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