Impact of depression, anxiety and stress on attitude of caretakers of terminally ill patients towards euthanasia

Pages: 889-892
Ayesha Zafar (Department of Clinical Psychology, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan)
Saira Majid (Applied Psychologist, Pakistan)

The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of depression, anxiety, stress and demographic variables among caretakers of terminally ill patients and their attitudes towards euthanasia. The terminal illness for the present study was Cancer. A sample of 60 caretakers (Men=30, Women=30) of terminally ill patients was collected from Mayo Hospital, Lahore respectively. The age range was from 15 to 60 years. The two questionnaires Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and Euthanasia Attitude Scale were used and administered individually. To fulfill the objectives of the study Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Multiple Regression and Independent t-test were used. Purposive sampling was used in the current study. Results revealed that anxiety and attitudes towards euthanasia had positive moderate correlation. Multiple Regression analysis showed impact of depression and stress on attitudes of caregivers of terminally ill patients towards euthanasia. Independent Sample t-test indicated that there was no gender difference in attitudes of caretakers of terminally ill patients towards euthanasia.