Factors Affecting Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions By Health Care Surrogates And Proxies: Assessing Benefits And Barriers

Terri Schiavo\u27s life and death placed international focus on social workers\u27 need to better understand and serve health care surrogates and proxies making life-sustaining treatment decisions on behalf of medical patients. This study (N = 132) reports initial validation of a new measure, the Acceptance of Treatment Choice Inventory (ATCI), designed to evaluate benefits and barriers considered by health care surrogates and proxies prior to making a life-sustaining treatment decision about CPR, tube-feedings, dialysis, and ventilation. Affirming a two-factor model with acceptable reliability and preliminary construct validity, surrogates sought decision support and desired to represent patients\u27 wishes adequately