What do health care professionals want to know about assisted dying? Setting the research agenda in New Zealand

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
eng
Date
2023
Authors
Young, J
Snelling, J
Beaumont S
Diesfeld, K
White, B
Willmott, L
Robinson J
Ahuriri-Driscoll A
Cheung, G
Dehkhoda, A
Abstract

Background: New Zealand recently introduced law permitting terminally ill people to request and receive assisted dying (AD) in specified circumstances. Given the nature and complexity of this new health service, research is vital to determine how AD is operating in practice. Objective: To identify research priorities regarding the implementation and delivery of AD in New Zealand. Methods: Using an adapted research prioritisation methodology, the researchers identified 15 potential AD research topics. A mixed-methods survey of health professionals was undertaken where respondents were asked to rate the 15 topics according to the relative importance for research to be conducted on each issue. Respondents could also suggest additional research areas, and were invited to participate in a follow-up interview. Results: One hundred and nineteen respondents completed the survey. 31% had some experience with AD. The highest rated research topic was the ‘effectiveness of safeguards in the Act to protect people’; the lowest rated topic was research into the ‘experiences of non-provider (e.g., administrative, cleaning) staff where assisted dying is being provided’. Respondents suggested 49 other research topics. Twenty-six interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis of interview data and open-ended survey questions was undertaken. Six research themes were identified: general factors related to the wider health system; the experiences of health care providers at the bedside; medico-legal issues; the impact of AD; experiences on the day of dying; and the overall effectiveness of the AD system. Key issues for stakeholders included safety of the AD service; ensuring access to AD; achieving equity for ‘structurally disadvantaged’ groups; and ensuring the well-being of patients, families/whānau, providers and non-providers. Conclusions: Based on early experiences of the implementation of the AD service, health professionals provide important insights into what research should be prioritised post-legalisation of AD. These findings can be used to shape the research agenda so that research may inform law, policy and best practice.

Description
Citation
Young J, Snelling J, Beaumont S, Diesfeld K, White B, Willmott L, Robinson J, Ahuriri-Driscoll A, Cheung G, Dehkhoda A, Egan R, Jap J, Karaka-Clarke TH, Manson L, McLaren C, Winters J (2023). What do health care professionals want to know about assisted dying? Setting the research agenda in New Zealand. BMC Palliative Care. 22(1). 40-.
Keywords
Humans, Suicide, Assisted, Health Personnel, Research Personnel, New Zealand, Surveys and Questionnaires, Assisted dying, Research prioritisation, Early implementation, Health professionals
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
1110 Nursing
1117 Public Health and Health Services
42 - Health sciences::4205 - Nursing
42 - Health sciences::4206 - Public health
42 - Health sciences::4203 - Health services and systems::420316 - Palliative care
Rights
© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.