Survey of cancer patients?? view of death

RAO Jie; FU Qiang; WU Qiansheng; YU Shiying

Abstract：Objective To investigate the cancer patients?? view of death and its related factors. Methods A questionnaire survey was designed by ourselves and conducted on cancer patients. Results One hundred questionnaires were sent out, receiving 99 efficient questionnaires. The patients who minded talking about death related issues were 27?? 27%. Whether patients minded talking a?bout death was related with their education degree(P= 0?? 005), dwelling environment(P= 0?? 009), the contact with critically ill or dy?ing patients(P= 0?? 001), the contact with deaths(P= 0?? 003), whether witnessed relatives at the end of life(P= 0?? 042), and the feel of attending funeral(P= 0?? 001). In the patients who didn??t mind talking about death, more than half of them thought that death should let nature take its course; for dying person the patients who chose should “rescue as far as possible” and “depend on the state of ill?ness” were similar in the proportions(44?? 44% vs. 50?? 00%); the most concerns when majority of patients met death were “unfinished family responsibilities”(63?? 89%) and “friends and relatives will be sad” (11?? 11%); for place of death, two?thirds of the patients chose at home, only 18?? 06% chose in hospital. Conclusion It will be great importance of implementing palliative and hospice care, as well as enhancing cancer patients?? quality of life.