Religion and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences Among Mainland Chinese Pubblico

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

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Religion, General Health Sciences, Public Health Sociology, General
Parola chiave	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

Ultima modifica

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	Religion and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences Among Mainland Chinese ()	2020-04-09 03:40:56 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions