Portuguese version (original)
Pereira, H. P., Marina, S., Simões, M. R., & Ricou, M. (2023). Escala de Avaliação da Vontade de Antecipar a Morte (EAVAM) [Will to Hasten Death Evaluation Scale (WHDES)].
Theoretical background
The will to hasten death (WHD) emerges in the context of voluntary euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (Hastened Death) and may be the motivational factor for a request for hastening death.
This will, is associated with a suffering considered unbearable. Depression, hopelessness, anxiety or pain are often precipitating factors. It can also represent a need to have control of the death’s moment (Pereira et al., in preparation). It is, therefore, a complex, multidimensional concept, requiring a rigorous assessment considering all existing scientific knowledge about the phenomenon.
The Hastened Death is legal in some countries (e.g., Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands), in some American states (e.g., California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington) and in some Australian states (e.g., Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia) (British Medical Association, 2021, Marina et al., 2020;). It has recently become legal in Austria and Spain. In Portugal, the hastened death law was approved in the Assembly of the Republic, having been vetoed by the President of the Republic.
There is no assessment scale for the will to hasten death developed or validated for the Portuguese people (Pereira el al., 2021). The development of the WHDES aims to fill this gap and integrate an assessment process of the hastened death request.
Description
Assessment Domain: The will to hasten death.
Studies
“The Will to Hasten Death: Development and validation of the Will to Hasten Death Evaluation Scale (WHDES) is a research associated with a doctoral thesis (Doctoral Program in Palliative Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto). Its purpose is the development and validation of a new assessment instrument for elderly people with incurable (terminal and non-terminal) disease: Will to Hasten Death Evaluation Scale (WHDES) This study, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology [Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)], through a doctoral grant awarded to Helena Patrícia Monteiro Pereira (ref. 2020.09392.BD). Supervisors: Miguel Bernardo Ricou da Costa Macedo (Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Research Center in Health Technologies and Services – CINTESIS, Porto), Mário Manuel Rodrigues Simões (FPCEUC, CINEICC, PsyAssessmentLab).
The ongoing research includes WHDES validation studies using the Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory, discriminant validity studies with three distinct groups (patients in palliative care, patients in continuous care and non-sick population/community sample) and validity studies relating to external criteria using various assessment instruments.
Contacts
Helena Patrícia Monteiro Pereira (helenapmpereira@outlook.pt)
References
- British Medical Association (2021). Physician-assisted dying. https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/ethics/end-of-life/physician-assisted-dying
- Marina, S., Wainwright, T., & Ricou, M. (2020). The role of psychologists in requests to hasten death: A literature and legislation review and an agenda for future research. International Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12680
- Pereira, H., Marina, S., Simões, M. R., & Ricou, M. (2014). Understanding the assessment of will to die and its link with hastened death requests: Findings from a systematic review. European Psychologist. , 29(1), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000522
- Pereira, H. P., Marina, S., Simões, M. R., & Ricou, M. (in preparation). Assessment of will to die on hastened death in terminal and nonterminal incurable patients: A systematic review of assessment tools.
- Pereira, H. P., Marina, S., Simões, M. R., & Ricou, M. (2021). Avaliação da vontade de morte antecipada: Revisão dos instrumentos de avaliação [Assessment of will to die on hastened death: Review of assessment instruments]. Poster apresentado no Encontro com a Ciência e Tecnologia em Portugal, 28 a 30 de junho de 2021.