Attitudes Toward Euthanasia: Implications for Social Work Practice

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a randomized general household survey that examined the attitudes of 618 Chinese respondents toward different types of euthanasia. The general public is found to agree with active euthanasia and non-voluntary euthanasia, but is neutral about passive euthanasia. Support for euthanasia is predicted by decreasing importance of religious belief, higher family income, experiences in taking care of terminally ill family members, being non-Protestants, and increasing age. Patients were percieved as the chief decision makers in euthanasian decisions. Finally, suggestions on social work practice and professional training are made.

KEYWORDS:

• euthanasia
• end-of-life care
• social work practice
• social work education
• Chinese society

The study was funded by a grant from the Health Services Research Committee of Hong Kong. The authors acknowledge Dr. Kwok-cho Tang for his invaluable input in the entire study.

Notes

1. The avoidance of death can be commonly found in people's daily lives. For example, apartment buildings in Cantonese-speaking regions such as Hong Kong commonly omit the 14th floor because the Cantonese pronunciation of “fourteen” sounds like the phrase “certain to die.” (“Four” and “die” are similar phonetically, but not tonally.)

2. A public opinion survey on gender issues of part-time employment conducted in 1999 with random sampling had a response rate of 42.4% (Hang-Yue, 2002). Another household survey with stratified random sampling on value systems and life satisfaction achieved a response rate of only 25% (Cheung & Leung, 2002).