Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2000

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Human Ecology

Major Professor

Bill C. Wallace

Committee Members

Robert H. Kirk, Herbert H Howard, Sharon Patton, Eugene Fitzhugh

Abstract

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to analyze factors which may relate to surviving family members' attitudes toward euthanasia and to determine their significance, if any. This research used data which were collected by telephone survey from a sampling frame comprised of adult surviving family members whose names were listed in the Knoxville News Sentinel between July 1997 and April 1998. One thousand, six hundred seventy eight adults were listed on the sampling frame. Three hundred forty nine persons were randomly selected from the population to ensure a 95% confidence level and a permissible error of ± .04. The response rate based on the number of persons completing the survey relative to the number in the sample was 38%. The response rate which took into consideration those in the sample who were noneligible and nonreachable was 85%.

The survey instrument was comprised of three scales: a euthanasia preference scale, a general self-efficacy scale, and an intrinsic religious orientation scale. Additionally, respondents were asked to complete a demographics section.

A pilot study was carried out using sixty persons randomly drawn from the sampling frame to assess the survey instrument. SPSS® was used to carry out an item analysis of the scales resulting in the following Cronbach Alpha values: euthanasia scale (76); self- efficacy scale (84); and, intrinsic religious orientation scale (.66).

Data were analyzed using regression analysis in SPSS®. Following the data analysis, it was concluded that the correlation (-0.44 at p<0.001) and regression model (p <0.001) show that there is a significant inverse relationship between the euthanasia and intrinsic religious orientation scores in this study. However, relationships between other predictors did not exist or were not able to be tested in this study due to paucity of data in some data cells.

In conclusion, within the limitations of this study, intrinsic religious orientation is a predictor of euthanasia preference among surviving immediate family members.

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