Hastening death: A comparison of two end-of-life decisions

This study determined the relationship of psychosocial and background varia bles to elders' end-of-life (EOL) decision preferences. Responding to 5 EOL decision scenarios depicting terminally ill elders, 200 alders aged 60-90 indicated preferences regarding extending life (EL), refusing treatment (RT ), and assisted suicide (AS).;They were also assessed on religiosity, value s,fear of death, locus of control, health, socioeconomic status, and age. R esults of multinomial logistic regression indicated that EOL decisions of t hree groups (favoring EL, favoring RT, and favoring both AS and RI) were si gnificantly influenced by, religiosity, value for preservation of life, val ue for quality of life, fear of death, and locus of control belief. The imp ortance of safeguarding older adults' autonomy in EOL decisions mas stresse d.