Abstract

Individuals in the end-of-life (EOL) period may not be fully aware of their prognosis or know they are facing a terminal illness. As Asian beliefs and cultural tendencies intersect with Western values, health care practitioners may find their assumptions about disclosing an EOL prognosis differs from patients and their family members. Disagreements among family members regarding the disclosure of EOL to their terminally ill loved one can result in conflict--making difficult and sensitive times more burdensome. Little scientific evidence is known about first generation Asians who live in the United States (US) regarding their practices with disclosing EOL and how they handle conflict resolution when a family member is terminally ill. The purposes of this descriptive qualitative study were to explore issues surrounding patient awareness of dying and explore approaches to conflict resolution in EOL situations for first generation Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese persons living in the south central, south eastern and northeastern parts of Texas. Face-to-face audio-recorded interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis elicited three awareness and three conflict resolution overarching themes across all ethnic groups. Health care practitioners must be cognizant that assumed acculturation does not always coincide with Western beliefs regarding disclosure of the prognosis at the EOL. In order to provide culturally and ethically sound EOL care for the patient and their loved ones, clinicians must be mindful of the need to sensitively assess their patient's beliefs and understand the importance of compassionate and diplomatic approaches for conflict resolution in Asian cultures.

Description

COPYRIGHT 2020 Nova Southeastern University, Inc. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/

Publisher

Gale

Date of publication

Summer 8-1-2020

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4501

Document Type

Article

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.