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Perception of Older People on Dying, Withdrawal of Life Sustaining Intervention and Advance Directives in South Korea

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of older people on dying, life sustaining interventions, and advance directives (ADs). The questionnaire was consisted of 11 questions regarding demographic characteristics, 5 about perceptions of death and dying, 7 about life sustaining interventions and 6 about Advance Directives (AD). The questionnaire was distributed to 224 participants aged 65 and over with a response rate of 93%. Data analysis was completed with PASW statistics 18.0 program using the t-test and ANOVA, and Duncan’s post hoc test. The majority of people disagreed with that dying is a normal part of life and death should be avoided at all costs. 83.5% of the participants did not agree with life sustaining interventions. However, 54% did not know about life sustaining interventions. 72% (n=144) expressed wishes to participate in decision making on life sustaining interventions for themselves. However, 81% (n=162) did not know about Advance Directives (AD). Higher awareness of life sustaining intervention correlated with higher awareness level of advance directives (r=.253, p<.001). There is a need for the development of an educational program tailored at the old people’s level of understanding and the construction of social conditions that facilitates acceptance of advance directives as a natural stage in preparing for death, and consequently enable the elderly to spend the remainder of their lives more meaningfully. 1