Terminal Cancer and Suicide: The Health Care Professional's Dilemma

Abstract

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that health care professionals would differ in their evaluations of a patient contemplating suicide, in their acceptance of suicide for the patient, and in their projected behavioral response to the patient, as a function of their belief that the patient has cancer, a terminal illness, or terminal cancer, and as a function of the degree of their death anxiety. Health care professionals (N = 138) across a variety of disciplines completed Templer's Death Anxiety Scale, read one of four randomly distributed written introductions, then viewed taped segments of counseling sessions with a woman who was contemplating suicide. Results demonstrated that health care professionals' evaluations, acceptance, and behavior in the case of a patient contemplating suicide are affected by their belief that the patient has cancer and/or is dying, and by the degree of death anxiety experienced by the practitioner. The importance of awareness regarding personal feelings about suicide among terminal cancer patients is discussed.