Religion and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences Among Mainland Chinese Open Access

Abstract

Given the rapidly increasing demand and interest in end-of-life (EOL) care in mainland China, there is a need to understand people’s EOL treatment preferences. Religion, as a means to help construct the meanings of life, death and dying, has rarely been studied in conjunction with EOL medical decisions in China. This study uses empirical data collected through online surveys (n = 1,085) to access the effects of religion on EOL treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness scenarios: physical pain and severe cognitive impairment. In various measures of religion, only two measures, less practice of folk religions and an endorsement of Buddhist beliefs in reincarnation, the afterlife, and karma, are associated with a preference for a palliative approach of treatments. Self-reported religious affiliation and practices of institutional religions do not predict EOL treatment preferences. These results evidence the functional position of religion, but also a discordance between the existing ways of measuring religion and the actual theoretical understanding of religious construct by the Chinese people. Better ways to operationalize religion and more studies are needed to understand EOL treatment preferences among the people of mainland China. 

Table of Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................1

Literature Review ..............................................................................................2

Methods ...........................................................................................................17

Results .............................................................................................................21

Discussion........................................................................................................27

Conclusions .....................................................................................................37

Reference .........................................................................................................39

Tables and Figures...........................................................................................45

Appendix A: Online Survey (English) ............................................................59

Appendix B: Two Vignettes (Chinese) ...........................................................66 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Religion, General Health Sciences, Public Health Sociology, General
Keyword	China End-of-Life Treatment Preferences Palliative Care Chinese Religion
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Ellen L. Idler, Emory University
Committee Members	Wei Wu, Emory University Melvin J. Konner, Emory University

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