Euthanasia has emerged as one of the leading ethical and moral issues of our time. The faculty was found to be associated with attitudes towards euthanasia, experiences with end-of-life situations and level of religious belief. Theology students had more experiences with end-of-life situations, while humanities showed the least experiences.
Theology students were the most religious of the groups, while humanities students were the least.
CONCLUSION 77
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
A detailed discussion of the arguments for and against euthanasia will be presented in chapter 2. In response to this increase and due to the lack of data on the attitudes of African people on the subject of euthanasia, the present work was reviewed. This will be achieved by comparing the attitudes of students of four faculties (Theology, Medicine, Law and Humanities).
Countries such as the Netherlands, the state of Oregon and Belgium have changed their laws to decriminalize the practice of active euthanasia as a result of the findings of these public investigations.
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction
Voluntary euthanasia is given to a competent person at his or her informed request (Csikai, 1999; Fulford et al., 2002; Humphry & Wickett, 1986). Euthanasia seems to be often confused with other concepts such as physician-assisted suicide, mercy killing and the doctrine of double effect (Dunnett, 1999; Fulford et al., 2002; Veatch, 1999). For example, Lee et al. 1996) found that the location of physicians' practices predicted their willingness to participate in euthanasia.
In contrast, a study by Karnik et al. 2002) with undergraduate students in 1997 found a different result. A study by Fekete et al. 2002), as already mentioned, found a strong connection between the attitudes and experiences of terminally ill patients. Other studies have also found religious belief to be an important determinant of euthanasia attitudes (Essinger, 2003; Ryynanen et al., 2002).
METHOD OF RESEARCH
The student population of the University of KwaZulu-Natal was selected for this study. It was appropriate to conduct the study because the researcher was training at the institution during the study. Except for the biographical information questionnaire developed by the researcher, the Weiss's (1996) instrument was drawn from experiences regarding end-of-life situations, levels of religious beliefs, and beliefs about autonomy.
The scale was originally developed by Tordella and Neutens (1979) and consists of 21 attitude items (see Appendix 2) designed to examine some of the attitudes of university students towards euthanasia. The first criticism of the above scale was that its instructions did not provide a definition of euthanasia. However, the researcher decided to insert a definition of euthanasia ("Euthanasia refers to the administration of lethal drugs with the intention of shortening a patient's life at that person's request") in the current study in order to allow the students to accompany the completion of the questionnaire.
Weiss's study yielded a Cronbach's alpha of .72 for the experience related to end-of-life situation scale (Weiss, . 1996). This questionnaire began with an introductory section outlining the purpose of the study, introducing the researcher and providing a definition of euthanasia (see Appendix 2). According to Haslam and McGarty (2003), reverse scoring refers to the practice of having some of the items worded in such a way that a higher score is associated with a lower level of the construct being measured.
Before calculating an overall score for the construct, scores on these specific items are transposed so that on all measures a higher score is associated with a higher level of the construct. The four dependent variables for this current study were Euthanasia Attitude Scale, experiences with end-of-life situations, levels of religious beliefs, and beliefs in autonomy.
RESULTS
The distribution of the participants' years of study (see Table 1) shows that senior students (218) were in the majority, followed by first-year students (111), while postgraduate students (63) were few. The survey results (see Appendix 3) based on the estimated marginal means are discussed below. The breakdown of the academic year showed more positive attitudes for senior students (average: 65.79;.
The results showed that theology students (mean: 70.33; SD: 5.04) showed the most positive attitudes towards euthanasia across all age groups. The results, based on the Wilks' Lambda scores, revealed significant differences in the dependent variables across the academic year (p <. However, the results of the post hoc tests (shown in Table 6 below) show that senior students were the most religious of the three groups.
In terms of year of study, senior students (218) made up more than half of the sample, while there were 111 first-year students and 63 postgraduate students. Senior students reported more experiences with end-of-life situations compared to both first-year and graduate students. Study year, faculty, age and faculty and study year and faculty brought significant findings on the dependent variables.
In the attitude scale, the results show significant differences in the dependent variable due to faculty, age and year of study, year of study and faculty as well as age, sex, year of study and faculty. In the experiences with the end-of-life scale, significant differences were due to year of study, faculty and age and faculty.
DISCUSSION
Regarding experiences with end-of-life situations, the 25-31 age group had more experiences with end-of-year situations compared to younger and older students. The effect of students' gender on attitudes towards euthanasia, experiences related to end-of-life situations, level of religious beliefs and beliefs in autonomy was found not to be statistically significant (see Tables 2 and 3). Younger and older male students had more experiences with end-of-life situations than female students.
The findings of this study contradict a study conducted by Weiss (1996) which found that women had more. experiences with end-of-life situations and to be more religious and autonomous than men. Based on estimated marginal means, both senior and graduate students indicated more positive support for euthanasia than did freshmen. contradict a study conducted by Hagelin et al. 2004), where freshmen were found to be more likely to accept euthanasia than seniors. However, the effect of year of study on experiences with end-of-life situations was significant (see Table 3).
The results of the MANOVA tests showed that the faculty was statistically significant in terms of students' attitudes towards euthanasia, experiences related to the end-of-life situation and the level of religious beliefs. Regarding end-of-life experiences, age and college had a strong positive correlation. Theology students showed the most experiences related to end-of-year situations compared to Medicine and Law, while Humanities the least.
The results of this study showed some significant differences in the dependent variables (Euthanasia Attitude Scale, Experiences regarding end-of-life . situations, Level of religious faith and Beliefs in autonomy) due to the independent variables (year of study, faculty) , age and faculty and year of study and faculty). With regard to experiences with end-of-life situations, the significant differences were due to year of study, faculty and age and faculty.
CONCLUSION 6.1 Aim of the study
This semester is the busiest in students' lives as they prepare for exams around this time. The questionnaire only provided the definition, but the different types and forms of euthanasia were not indicated. The current study provides some insight into the perception of college students' attitudes toward euthanasia, experiences related to end-of-life situations, level of religious beliefs, and belief in autonomy.
Education or prior discussion on the concept of euthanasia should occur before any research project is undertaken. The growing HIV/AIDS epidemic has shortened life expectancy and its impact on euthanasia attitudes should also be explored. Physicians' and nurses' attitudes toward and experiences of voluntary euthanasia: Survey of members of the Japanese palliative medicine association.
Health social workers' perspectives on the ethical issues and policy of end-of-life care. Attitudes and preferences regarding physician-assisted euthanasia and suicide among terminally ill patients and their caregivers. Ethical aspects of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands from a nursing perspective.
CONSENT FORM
O. BOX 101377 SCOTTSVILLE
QUESTIONNAIRE
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
- What is your gender
- What year of study are you currently in?
- What program of study are you currently
- What is your marital status?
- What is your nationality?
- To which racial grouping do you belong?
- What is your religious affiliation?
Remember that euthanasia refers to the intentional killing by act or omission of an addicted human being for his or her alleged benefit. The issue of euthanasia should be left to the whole family and not to the individual.
EXPERIENCES WITH REGARD TO END-OF LIFE SITUATIONS AMONG STUDENTS
- PERSONAL INTERACTION WITH A TERMINALLY ILL PERSON
- AMOUNT OF EXPOSURE TO END- OF-LIFE SITU A TIONS IN MEDIA
- AMOUNT OF DISCUSSION OF END-OF-LIFE SITU A TIONS
LEVEL OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES
Results from Euthanasia Attitudes Scale (EAS)
Total Theology Medicine LAW Human Total Theology Medicine Total Theology Total Human LAW Theology Medicine LAW Total Medicine. Theology Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Total Theology Total LAW Theology Medicine Total LAW Theology Total LAW Theology Medicine Total Theology Total Human LAW Theology Total Human LAW Theology Total Human LAW Theology Total Theology Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Total Human LAW.
Total First Total Human LAW Theology Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Total Senior Human. Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW Total Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW Total Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW Medicine Total Human Theology of LAW. Medicine Total Human Legal Theology Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Theology Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Theology Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Human Legal Theology Medicine Total Legal Theology Medicine Total Legal Theology.
WET Teologie Geneeskunde Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Total Human LAW Theology Total Human LAW Theology Medicine Totaal.
GENERAL COMMENTS FROM STUDENTS
