Abstract
A pilot study was conducted in an urban African American community to explore the relationship between trust in physicians, demographics, and end-of-life treatment decisions made by African American caregivers of family members with dementia: namely, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, and tube feeding. In a cross-sectional design, standard measures were administered to a convenience sample of 68 African American caregivers of family members with dementia. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to explore associations among the variables. Those with more education exhibited higher (P = .035) trust in physicians than less educated individuals. Caregivers who were more trusting of their physicians were more likely to use mechanical ventilation (P = .0005) than were less trusting caregivers. Conversely, more trusting caregivers were less likely to use tube feeding (P = .022). Our findings suggest that relationships exist among trust in physicians, demographics, and end-of-life treatment decisions. Thus, healthcare providers should consider African American caregivers' perceived trust in physicians when counseling about dementia and end-of-life treatment choices.