Open AccessComparison of the Perceptions of City Residents and Physicians Regarding “Good Death” in a Terminal Cancer Setting in Fukushima, Japan
Author(s) -
Izuha Akiko,
Suzuki Masao,
Murakawa Masahiro,
Yasumura Seiji
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
general medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1883-6011
pISSN - 1346-0072
DOI - 10.14442/general2000.9.21
Subject(s) - continuance , palliative care , medicine , good death , family medicine , population , terminal cancer , fear of death , gerontology , nursing , psychology , psychiatry , environmental health , social psychology
BACKGROUND In recent years, various studies have analyzed the concepts of “good death” and “quality of dying and death” in the world. The objective of this study was to compare community residents and physicians regarding their perceptions of “good death” in a terminal cancer setting in Fukushima, Japan. METHODS One thousand residents of Fukushima City (40 years or older) were randomly selected for comparison to the 483 physicians working in the same city. A self‐administered questionnaire was used to query residents and physicians on 52 items about “good death.” RESULTS The response rate was 73.6% for the residents and 53.0% for the physicians. The concept of “good death” was composed of 14 factors for both groups. We elucidated the structure of the concept of “good death” in the general population and physicians in Japan, and only the third factor, “religion and spiritual beliefs,” was the same between the general population and physician. CONCLUSION The data offers useful information pertaining to palliative care education for medical providers. Specifically, physicians should understand the differences between concepts held by the general population and physicians. For example, some same items were included in factor X (continuance of one's lifestyle) for citizen and factor II for physician. But contribution ratios of factor X for citizen and factor II for physician were different. This should lead to the better palliative care provision.