The Effects of the Counseling Process in Making a Living Wills On the Anxiety of Terminally Ill Patients and Their Families.

Abstract

     The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to study anxiety after making a living will of terminally ill patients and their families The study was conducted in a sample group. namely, 29 terminally ill patients and 32 of their caregivers The tools used to collect data include a Questionnaire for general information about the sample group, the Department of Mental Health's GAD7 Anxiety Assessment Scale, and satisfaction assessment of palliative treatment. The validity of the instruments was confirmed with an Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) ranging from 0.67 to 1.00. while the satisfaction assessment instrument exhibited a Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of 0.84. Conduct research using counseling processes and living wills. between April - June 2024. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and comparative with pair t-test statistics.
     The results of the research found that most terminally ill patients were 50 years of age or older, 82.8%, with terminal illness of less than 6 months, and 58.6%, with terminal illness for more than 6 months. 41.4% of them had never known about palliative treatment, and 75.9% never knew about making a living will. 100% of patients had a low level of anxiety before making a living will, averaging 2.52 points (SD.=2.26). After making a living will, 100 percent of patients had low anxiety scores, with an average score of 0.24 points (SD. =0.58), a statistically significant decrease (p<0.05). The 32 caregivers were mostly under 50 years old 75.0%. , and 90.6% of them had never known about making a life will, Before making a living will, the caregivers had a slight level of concern, 93.8%, and a moderate level, 6.2%, respectively, with an average score of 3.69 points (SD.=3.15). After making a living will they had a slight level of anxiety with 100 %. The average score was 0.44 points (SD.=0.72), Decreased with statistical significance (p<0.05) After the experiment, caregivers were satisfied with palliative treatment at a high level of 100 percent, with an average score of 4.71 points (SD.=0.36).