Centre for Policy on Ageing



Racial and state differences in the designation of advance directives in nursing home residents
Author(s)	Dan K Kiely, Susan L Mitchell, Aimee Marlow
Journal title	Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 49, no 10, October 2001
Pages	pp 1346-1352
Keywords	Ethnic groups ; Residents [care homes] ; Nursing homes ; Medical care ; Terminal care ; Rights [elderly] ; United States of America.
Annotation	The study was based on the whether or not 130,308 nursing home residents in California (CA), 59,691 in Massachusetts (MA), 112,080 in New York (NY), and 98,954 in Ohio (OH) have a living will (LW), a do not resuscitate (DNR) order, or a surrogate decision-maker (SDM). The proportion of LWs, DNR orders, and SDMs varied significantly by racial categories in each state. Various resident characteristics explain some of the racial differences, although whites are still more likely to have a LW, a DNR order, or an SDM. This pattern is observed in all states, but with some variation. Some of these differences may be due to distinct cultural approaches to end-of-life care, or lack of knowledge and understanding of advance directives. Distinctly higher rates of LWs for all racial groups in Ohio then in other states suggest that states can potentially increase the use of advance directives through intervention. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-011115223 A
Classmark	TK: KX: LHB: LK: LV: IKR: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.