HOW INFORMED CAN CONSENT BE - NEW LIGHT ON COMPREHENSION AMONG ELDERLY PEOPLE MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT ENTERAL TUBE-FEEDING

Elderly people in long-term care facilities do not understand much abo ut various medical procedures, including enteral feeding. After presen tation of empirically precise information about enteral tube feeding, residents in both long-term care and community-dwelling groups showed significant improvement in their understanding. The community-dwelling group showed even greater improvement. For both, comprehension was ne gatively related to age and depression scores, but positively related to IQ, reading comprehension, social support, and mental status. The M MSE proved the best predictor of comprehension. Implications of the re sults are discussed.