Assignment: End-of-Life decision making
Assignment: End-of-Life decision making
I chose to read the article titled “End-of-Life decision making in older Korean adults: Concerns, preferences, and expectations.” In this article, it outlines a study of end of life care for older Korean adults. The purpose of the study was to help health care professionals understand the older Korean adult, and assist with caring for them during their end of life. “The purpose was to assist healthcare professionals, in particular, physicians, to better understand how to interact with Korean older adults” (Ko, E., Nelson-Becker, H., Park, Y., & Shin, M., 2013, pg. 71) In nursing, we come in contact with many different cultural groups so this is study is very relevant to our practice. Knowing how to interact with these specific cultural groups plays a large role in helping our patients achieve the best possible outcomes and experiences while in our care. In my opinion, the hypothesis is the final sentence of the opening paragraph. “Our findings highlight the importance of understanding concerns and preferences regarding end-of-life care among Korean older adults and the importance of assisting them in planning end-of-life care within a cultural framework.” (Ko, E., Nelson-Becker, H., Park, Y., & Shin, M., 2013, pg. 71) I believe this is the hypothesis because it is a restatement of the research question that the audience can analyze and form their own questions based on. The objectives of the study were to determine and evaluate the problems that hinder the older Korean adult from making their end of life decisions and being involved in them. The study looked at the ethical concerns, the way that Korean’s feel about doctors discussing their care, and more variables.
It is my opinion that the research problem is end of life care and culture for the identified population. The article discuses that one of the problems with end of life care is that there is often a lack of legal guidance and collaboration which leads to a lack of patient involvement in decision making. It also states that the family is usually a large part of decisions, and at times the patients aren’t even involved. Lastly, there is a large influence that their ethical background and beliefs play in their decision making. One of these beliefs was “Many study participants viewed the quality of life as more important than extending life, similar to the findings from previous studies” (Ko, E., Nelson-Becker, H., Park, Y., & Shin, M., 2013, pg. 78)
I believe this study has high credibility and validity. The study used a total of 54 subjects, so there was a large amount of people that they studied. Also, they used qualitative research by conducting in person interviews, which I believe is the most accurate and real time data which increase the validity of the study. They interviewed a large amount of people that were all different so I believe that this gives us a good range and variables. “Sociodemographic variables included in this study were age, income, education, marital status, religious affiliation, and religiosity” (Ko, E., Nelson-Becker, H., Park, Y., & Shin, M., 2013, pg. 75) One other point that in my opinion increases the credibility of the study was that there were 4 different authors involved in conducting their study. Assignment: End-of-Life decision making