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Table 3 Influence of a variety of factors on the likelihood of compliance with advance directive

From: Physician perspectives and compliance with patient advance directives: the role external factors play on physician decision making

Scenario

Question

Honor AD?

P-value

  

Likely

Unlikely

Unsure

 

1

Signing 5 years ago prior to elective surgery

< 0.046

 Important

176 (56%)

33 (69%)

23 (82%)

 

 Unimportant

68 (22%)

7 (15%)

3 (11%)

 

 Neither

68 (22%)

7 (15%)

2 (7%)

 

Fear of legal liability

0.207

 Important

111 (36%)

25 (52%)

32% (9)

 

 Unimportant

115 (37%)

11 (23%)

36% (10)

 
 

 Neither

86 (28%)

12 (25%)

9 (32%)

 

2

Acuity of illness does not mirror “pass away in peace”

<0.01

 Important

90 (56%)

151 (86%)

39 (74%)

 

 Unimportant

35 (22%)

12 (7%)

3 (6%)

 

 Neither

35 (22%)

12 (7%)

11 (21%)

 

Fear of legal liability

0.085

 Important

74 (46%)

62 (35%)

23 (43%)

 

 Unimportant

39 (24%)

53 (30%)

8 (15%)

 
 

 Neither

47 (29%)

60 (34%)

22 (42%)

 

3

Spouse’s demand

< 0.01

 Important

141 (49%)

52 (77%)

20 (61%)

 

 Unimportant

92 (32%)

11 (16%)

3 (9%)

 

 Neither

55 (19%)

4 (6%)

10 (30%)

 

Fear of legal liability

< 0.006

 Important

144 (50%)

42 (63%)

20 (61%)

 

 Unimportant

71 (25%)

17 (25%)

1 (3%)

 
 

 Neither

73 (25%)

8 (12%)

12 (36%)

 
  1. Consistent with the Results section, we report Somewhat likely/Very likely and Somewhat unlikely/Very unlikely as Likely and Unlikely, respectively. Similarly, we report Important and Unimportant.
  2. Cells are Number (% of column). For example, of the 312 respondents who were Likely (i.e. Very Likely or Somewhat Likely) to honor the advance directive in Scenario 1, 176 (56% of the 312) considered the fact that the advance directive was signed 5 years before to be Important (i.e. Important or Very Important).
  3. P-values reflect Chi-square or Fisher exact test comparisons.