How Elders and Adult Children Discuss End-of-Life Preferences

This study appearing in the January 2008 issue of the CDC's Preventing Chronic Disease examines how adult children and elderly parents discuss end-of-life issues. Two researchers from the University of Georgia interviewed two groups, 15 older adults and 15 younger adults. The researches looked to answer the following questions.

1. How do elders express their EOLPP [end-of-life preparation and preferences] to their children?
2. Are their children receptive?
3. What are the barriers to this exchange of information?
4. What facilitates these discussions?
5. What differences emerge from examining the older and younger adults’ responses separately?
   

One of the research team's conclusions is that there is potential for health care and public health professionals to facilitate the dicussion about end-of-life preferences. They feel that this is a public health issue and offer the study as an initial step in understanding how children and their elderly parents approach the topic of dying.