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What Encourages Japanese Adult Children to Initiate End-of-life Discussion With Aging Parents?

Year: 2017
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Sharing one’s wishes about end-of-life care with family members is critical for older adults to receive their preferred course of care until the final days of their lives. This is especially true in Japan, where families are required to serve as surrogate decision makers for older adults. It has been found, however, that Japanese older adults are hesitant to bring up end-of-life issues in family conversation, suggesting the need for their family members to initiate end-of-life discussion. In this study, using online survey data from 1,010 Japanese adult children with at least one living parent aged 65 or older, we explored factors that encourage these children to talk to their parents about end-of-life issues. In doing so, we focused on (a) children’s perceptions of parents’ personality (e.g., whether, in children’s view, parents were confident in their idea), (b) children’s attitudes toward parent care and end-of-life discussion (e.g., whether children anticipated that they would assume the role of parent caregiver, whether children recognized the importance of such discussion), (c) parents’ medical history, and (d) both children’s and parents’ sociodemographic characteristics. Results of logistic regression analysis indicated that children’s attitudes rather than other factors explained whether they broached end-of-life issues to their parents. Our findings suggest that, in Japan, approaching to adult children’s idea about parent care role and end-of-life discussion can prompt them to initiate such discussion with aging parents regardless of sociodemographic background as well as how they view their parents’ personality.
DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.468
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,977
OpenAlex ID: W2728322011
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