Studied 63 retirement community residents with living wills to determine whether more specific planning for, and control over, their dying process would decrease their anxiety about death. Experimental group received counseling and completed questionnaire regarding specific treatments, proxy decision making, and related questions. Mean death…

Used National Center for Health Statistics Compressed Mortality data to perform age-specific analysis of linear trends in suicide. Found males aged 65+ years were most likely to use firearms. In 1988, nearly 80% of suicides by older males were committed with firearms. Firearm-related suicide rates were much lower for blacks than whites 65 and…

Purpose: Advance directives are important planning and decision-making tools for individuals in nursing homes. Design and Methods: By using the nursing facility Minimum Data Set, we examined the prevalence of advance directives at admission and 12 months post-admission. Results: The prevalence of having any advance directive at admission declined…

Notes that, in long term care, conflicts over autonomy can begin at level of conceptualization, especially when basic distinctions and polarities are not adequately recognized. Indicates conceptual complexity by identifying and examining six polarities. Presents case studies to illustrate how each polarity can give rise to ethical problems in long…

Presents review of perspectives from law, medical ethics, and psychosocial research to emphasize importance and multi-disciplinary nature of autonomy issues in long term care and to clarify background of Retirement Research Foundation's Personal Autonomy in Long Term Care Initiative. Introduces supplemental issue of "The Gerontologist"…

Asserts that constraints on autonomy of elderly people with disabilities arise from low goal formulation and underestimated potentials for self-realization and full participation in society. Suggests utility of reviewing effects of Women's, Mentally Retarded, and Independent Living Movements to assess presence or absence of elements analogous or…

Studied effectiveness of intervention to help frail elders to record advance directives (ADs). In collaboration with physicians and lay volunteer, social worker provided information/counseling to elderly subjects, families, and proxies in series of visits to geriatric evaluation and management clinic. Seventy-one percent of subjects recorded ADs.…

Examined how autonomy and decision-making manifest themselves in 36 retirement communities in Arizona, California, Florida, and New Jersey. Results indicated that most residents let others make decisions. Autonomy was basically latent, with residents wanting the possibility of decision-making when crisis arises or community stability is…

Assessed impact of relocation on health and well-being of 196 nursing home residents who relocated to new facility. Relocated residents participated in program to enhance sense of control and predictability over move. Analyses of medical records, nurses' ratings, and interviews strongly suggest that move had no negative effect on residents as…

Describes political and social action group of cognitively intact nursing home residents, organized in response to residents' desire to work on social issues and coordinated by recreational therapist who expected participation to maximize residents' autonomy and sense of control. Benefits mentioned by participants included opportunity to…

Compared 38 residents in self-help senior residence to 36 in conventional senior residences on Sheltered Care Environment Scale, Self-Esteem Inventory, and Senior Housing Questionnaire. Found that self-help residents scored significantly higher than conventional residents on control, self-esteem, and social involvement. (Author/NB)

Medical ethical problems involving the elderly elucidate the relation between broader social views of aging and ethical principles basic to medicine. Three clinical situations are described and alternative principles of medical ethics are discussed as a basis for resolution of ethical problems in the health care of the elderly. (Author)