Decision making about advance directives by married women

One goal of this exploratory study was to describe the experiences of 41 wives engaged in a congregationally based educational program promoting the discussion of advance directives (ADs). Other goals were to explore whether marital commitment was an antecedent for engaging in AD discussions, as well as whether it was positively associated with wives' increased trust that their husbands would carry out their AD preferences. Eighty percent of the wives discussed ADs with their husbands, and 44% revised/signed an AD. Slightly over half of the couples discussed ADs for 1 hour or less. There was marginal support for the hypothesis that there would be a positive association between wives' discussing ADs with their husbands and marital commitment. There was strong support for the hypothesis that wives' level of commitment would be positively associated with their trust that their husbands would carry out their AD preferences.