Perception, knowledge and attitudes on advance medical directives among hospital staff: Using mixed methodology

It is necessary to examine the level of perception, knowledge and attitudes of the medical staff for advance medical directives, which are practical alternatives to good practice for end-of-life care in the actual medical field.

This study was conducted to determine the degree of perception, knowledge and attitude of cancer hospital medical staff about advance medical directives, and to confirm the relationship between them. It also explored their experiences with advance medical directives.

This study used a convergent design to collect quantitative and qualitative data separately in the mixed methodology. This design adheres to the STROBE guidelines. Participants were a total of 140 subjects (70 doctors and 70 nurses) with more than 3 years and considered to have sufficient experience related to the study purpose. Focus group participants were a total 19 persons (9 doctors and 10 nurses).

Mean score for perception was 35.40, which indicates lower perception when compared to the median value (37.50 points). Perception of advance medical directives had significant, positive relations with attitude of advance medical directives (p = .032). The perception on attitude of advance medical directives factor was significantly influencing (p = .021). As a result of the analysis based on qualitative research questions, six subjects and 11 categories were created by deriving meaningful sentences from the statements.

This study suggests that the perception of medical professionals about advance medical directives has a positive correlation with attitudes, as well as a causal relationship.

Based on the finding from this study, concrete strategies and interventions to improve the perception of advance medical directives among cancer hospital medical staff are needed.