Just let her eat the darn cookies: To what extent will education about the nature and consequences of advanced medical technology influence a person's end-of-life care choice

The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which education about the nature and consequences of advanced medical technology influenced beliefs and shaped perceptions about the end-of-life care choices adults might make. The research questions were: to what extent is spirituality related to pre-intervention beliefs and preferences about end-of-life care; to what extent does participation in a brief transformational education program change adults' preferences about end-of-life care, overall and by program delivery type; to what extent does participation in a brief transformational education program change adults' beliefs about the artificial means to extend life, overall and by program delivery type? Rather than being separate conditions of therapeutic interventions, caring and curing are mutually supportive. Bringing care and cure together more effectively supports the patient's need physiologically, emotionally and spiritually.;A short educational program was developed to help individuals understand the impact of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, feeding tube placement, dialysis and rounds of pharmaceutical interventions at the end-of-life. A pre and post survey was given to each participant to assess their perceptions: For the entire sample, preferences for end of life care changed slightly with an orientation toward comfort over treatment interventions to cure. For the entire sample beliefs about the use of artificial means to extend life did not significantly change.