Questionnaire Analysis

The Schedule of Attitudes Toward Hastened Death [SAHD-20] was developed by Rosenfeld and colleagues in 2004 and consists of 20 questions concerning patients’ views on euthanasia.

Purpose of the Questionnaire

The purpose of the questionnaire is to measure a patient’s desire to pursue euthanasia as a result of their illness. This questionnaire is administered by physicians to patients with life-threatening conditions (e.g., cancer).

Scoring of the Questionnaire

It is completed by patients using “True” or “False” responses. The total score ranges from 0 to 20. A score of ≥7 indicates a high level of desire for euthanasia, while a score of ≥11 indicates a very high desire.

Validity

The SAHD-20 is considered a valid research instrument according to the study by Mystakidou et al. (2004).

Reliability

The questionnaire demonstrated very good reliability, with an internal consistency index (Cronbach’s alpha) of 0.89.

References

Rosenfeld, B., Breitbart, W., Galietta, M., Kaim, M., Funesti‐Esch, J., Pessin, H., … & Brescia, R. (2000). The schedule of attitudes toward hastened death: Measuring desire for death in terminally ill cancer patients. Cancer, 88(12), 2868–2875.
Mystakidou, K., Rosenfeld, B., Parpa, E., Tsilika, E., Katsouda, E., Galanos, A., & Vlahos, L. (2004). The schedule of attitudes toward hastened death: Validation analysis in terminally ill cancer patients. Palliative & Supportive Care, 2(4), 395–402.
Masterson, M. P., Slivjak, E., Jankauskaite, G., Breitbart, W., Pessin, H., Schofield, E., … & Lichtenthal, W. G. (2018). Beyond the bucket list: Unfinished business among advanced cancer patients. Psycho‐Oncology, 27(11), 2573–2580.