The family surrogates' psychological experience of making a do-not-resuscitate decision for older relatives: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Many nursing home residents lack autonomous decision-making capacity and rely on family members to make do-not-resuscitate (DNR) decisions. Making DNR decisions can be difficult and complicated for surrogates. However, surrogates' psychological experience in making these decisions for older relatives is not well studied.

AIM: To understand the surrogates' psychological experience of making DNR decisions for older relatives in a nursing home.

METHODS: The study subjects of this qualitative study were family surrogates of older residents in a nursing home of Taiwan. A self-constructed, semi-structured interview guided in-depth interviews, which were recorded. Content analysis was used to discover themes from verbatim record.

RESULTS: Four themes were revealed: lack of psychological preparation, considering issues when making a decision, ambivalent emotional responses and impact of cultural factors. Fifteen subthemes were also found.

CONCLUSIONS: Surrogates who must decide whether to make a DNR decision for older relatives experience great emotional conflict. Understanding surrogates' struggles may assist nursing and care staff in managing this difficult situation.