Religion and Spirituality in Surrogate Decision Making for Hospitalized Older Adults

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 46 surrogate decision makers for hospitalized older adults to characterize the role of spirituality and religion in decision making. Three themes emerged: (1) religion as a guide to decision making, (2) control, and (3) faith, death and dying. For religio...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Geros-Willfond, Kristin N. (Author) ; Ivy, Stephen S. (Author)
Contributors: Montz, Kianna (Other) ; Bohan, Sara E. (Other) ; Torke, Alexia M. (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [2016]
In: Journal of religion and health
Year: 2016, Volume: 55, Issue: 3, Pages: 765-777
Further subjects:B Spirituality
B Proxy
B Religion
B surrogate decision making
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:We conducted semi-structured interviews with 46 surrogate decision makers for hospitalized older adults to characterize the role of spirituality and religion in decision making. Three themes emerged: (1) religion as a guide to decision making, (2) control, and (3) faith, death and dying. For religious surrogates, religion played a central role in end of life decisions. There was variability regarding whether God or humans were perceived to be in control; however, beliefs about control led to varying perspectives on acceptance of comfort-focused treatment. We conclude that clinicians should attend to religious considerations due to their impact on decision making.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10943-015-0111-9