Table 1 General demographics
Respondens/gender | ||
No one indicated ‘other’ as gender | ||
Female | 58 | 78.4% |
Male | 16 | 21.6% |
Profession | ||
Physician | 3 | 3.9% |
Nurse | 6 | 7.8% |
Spiritual care | 20 | 26.0% |
Social worker | 2 | 2.6% |
Administrator | 1 | 1.3% |
Policy maker | 8 | 10.4% |
Lawyer | 3 | 3.9% |
Ethicist | 11 | 14.3% |
Researcher | 5 | 6.5% |
Other | 18 | 23.4% |
Case setting | ||
The % exceeds 100% since individuals can work in more than 1 setting | ||
General hospital | 15 | 19.2% |
Academic hospital | 21 | 26.9% |
Elderly care org | 13 | 16.7% |
Mental health org | 6 | 7.7% |
Disability (mental) care | 14 | 17.9% |
Home care | 2 | 2.6% |
Other | 17 | 21.8% |
Ethics support role | ||
The % exceeds 100% since individuals can have more than 1 role | ||
Member of ethics committee (not research ethics board) | 19 | 25.0% |
Chief ethics committee (not REB) | 3 | 3.9% |
Moral case deliberator | 47 | 61.8% |
Member of ethics working group (not REB) | 11 | 14.5% |
Chief/coordinator ethics working group (not REB) | 9 | 11.8% |
Ethics consultant/ethics support | 17 | 22.4% |
Moral Counselor | 6 | 7.9% |
Other | 14 | 18.4% |
Experience as ethics support person (years) | ||
51% of our respondents had between 0 and 5 years experience in a role of ethics support | ||
Time per month actually functioning in case-based ethics support (n = 47 of 46?) | ||
More than half of our respondents would average 1–5 h on the case-based ethics support per month | ||
Time per month available as ethics support person | ||
50% of our respondents functioned between 0 and 5 h/m in ethics support role (irrespective of case-based support) | ||
Method of ethics support | ||
The % exceeds 100% since individuals can apply more than 1 method | ||
Methods, such as the 4-box method, one of the US models, were also included. However, no one checked this method, so it does not appear in the results section | ||
No method | 3 | 6.4% |
Socratic dialogue | 17 | 36.2% |
“Utrechts stappenplan” | 4 | 8.5% |
Nijmegen method | 6 | 12.8% |
Dilemma method | 23 | 48.9% |
7 Phase model | 3 | 6.4% |
Care-ethics method | 5 | 10.6% |
Relief method | 11 | 23.4% |
Mixed method | 19 | 40.4% |
Other | 8 | 17.0% |
Impairment of patients in case-based ethics support | ||
The % exceeds 100% since individuals can have more than 1 impairment | ||
Mental illness/mental disability | 17 | 56.7% |
Psychiatric impairment | 22 | 73.3% |
Cognitive disability e.g. dementia | 20 | 66.7% |
Disorder of consciousness | 7 | 23.3% |