“Good death” – the circumstances in which it would be best for a person to die. The representative survey of Latvian population

The paper analyses the opinions of Latvian residents about the desired/best conditions for person’s death. Our intention was to use the concept of “good death” as it has been described in academic literature on the end of life to describe what circumstances of dying are preferred in Latvian population. A nationally representative survey of Latvian permanent residents (n = 1012) was conducted in October 2020. The obtained answers are analysed in different demographic groups, as well as in connection with other respondents’ perceptions and values. The results of the study show that the possibility of dying in pain and suffering is a major concern for the majority of Latvian society, and a large percentage of people would like to leave their lives in sleep or sudden death. The results of the study also show people’s desire to be in their homes at the time of death, to die in the presence of relatives. The survey shows a statistically significant relationship between people’s perceptions of the desired/best conditions in which to die - “good death” and a range of demographic and social factors. The data of the study carried out provide new information on people’s perceptions of death, highlighting differences in different socio-demographic groups.

Probing into the Dilemma of Hospice Care for the Elderly in China

With the aging of the population gradually become a worldwide trend, China has entered into the aging society in 2000, the phenomenon of “getting old before getting rich” has caused a severe challenge. As a part of the pension system, hospice should be paid attention and promoted. However, due to the influence of China’s traditional view of death and the fact that hospice is not included in the medical insurance system, the idea of hospice has not been widely publicized. Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, this paper analyzes the current situation of hospice care for the elderly in China and explores the specific difficulties encountered in its development, then we hope people re-understand the saying “a good death is better than a lazy life” and choose hospice care services rationally.

Advance care tweeting: A mixed-methods analysis of online conversations surrounding National Healthcare Decisions Day hashtags on Twitter (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Within most Western societies, topics related to death and dying continue to be taboo, and opportunities for presence and engagement during end-of-life that could lead to a good death are avoided as a result. Several efforts have been made to help people engage in advance care planning (ACP) conversations, including completing advance care directives, so they may express their goals-of-care if they become too sick to communicate their wishes. One major effort in the United States towards encouraging such challenging discussions is the annual celebration of National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD). OBJECTIVE The present study explored ACP from a socio-cultural perspective, using Twitter as a communication tool. METHODS All publicly available tweets published between August 1st 2020 and July 30th 2021 (N = 9,713) were collected and analyzed using the computational, mixed-method Analysis of Topic Model Network (ANTMN) approach. RESULTS Results revealed conversations, driven primarily by laypersons (96% of tweets originated from unverified accounts) surrounded three major themes: importance and promotion, surrounding language, and finally, systemic issues. CONCLUSIONS Based on the results, we argue there is a need for awareness of what barriers people may face in engaging in ACP conversations, including systemic barriers, literacy levels, misinformation, policies, including Medicare reimbursements, and trust among health care professionals. This is incredibly important for clinicians and scholars to be aware of as we strive to re-envision ACP so that people are more comfortable engaging in ACP conversations. In terms of content of Tweets, we argue there is a chasm between the biomedical and biopsychosocial elements of ACP, including patient narratives. If used properly, Twitter conversations and NHDD hashtags could be harnessed to serve as a connecting point between organizations, physicians, patients and family members, to lay the groundwork for the trajectory towards a good death.

Attitudes of Oncology Nurses Towards Care of Dying Patients and the Principles of Dying with Dignity and Their Views on Good Death

This study investigated oncology nurses’ attitudes toward caring for dying patients, their principles of dying with dignity, and their views on good death. This descriptive study included 257 oncology nurses working at two university hospitals, an educational research hospital and a state hospital in Turkey. Data were collected using the descriptive characteristics information form, the Frommelt Attitudes toward Care of the Dying scale, the Assessment Scale of Attitudes toward the Principles of Dying with Dignity, and the Good Death Scale. The nurses obtained mean scores of 99.53 ± 7.76 on the Frommelt Attitudes toward Care of the Dying scale, 26.84 ± 12.45 on the Assessment Scale of Attitudes toward the Principles of Dying with Dignity, and 57.23 ± 7.48 on the Good Death Scale. The nurses’ personal and professional characteristics influenced their attitudes toward caring for dying patients, the principles of dying with dignity, and their views on good death.

Opinions of Cancer Patients, Their Relatives, and Nurses on Good Death

The study sample consists of participants as the patient, patient relatives, and nurse. In our study, a significant relationship was found between the ages of patients, and fear of death, avoidance of death, accepting approach, non-acceptance, and the DAP-R scale total score. A positive moderate correlation was found between the fear of death and death avoidance among my nurses who participated in the study. The nurse, the patient, and patient relatives had a good perception of death and had a higher attitude toward death. Additionally, that found to nurses’ fear of death and death avoidance behavior are higher than patients and their relatives.