What influences healthcare surrogate decision-making among relatives of Chinese patients with dementia: a qualitative study based on the ODSF theory

Background Caring for someone with dementia can be a difficult and time-consuming task. Because Chinese Confucianism encourages harmonious family-centered decision-making, family members frequently assume the role of surrogate decision-maker. Mistakes in decision-making can result in not just wasted resources, higher expenses, and ineffective interventions, but also patient suffering and caregiver anxiety if not properly navigated. As a result, this study employed a qualitative research approach to investigate the variables of family members of people with dementia in the process of surrogate decision-making. Methods To gain a comprehensive grasp of the study objectives, this qualitative investigation employed content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Inductive content analysis was chosen to collect data for this study, the next step is to organize the qualitative data. This process includes open coding, creating categories and abstraction. Results Following data analysis, three overarching theme were identified. Following data analysis, three themes and 10 sub-themes were ultimately summarized in this study. The key thematic findings are summarized. Conclusion In this study, we explored the factors associated with surrogate decision-making through the perspectives of family members of Chinese patients with dementia. Among them, traditional Chinese kinship served as the primary link between the facilitators of surrogate decision-making. This was because an individual's tastes, values, and goals tended to remain consistent over time, making decisions that depended on familiarity and kinship more reasonable to the surrogate. Further, we should have paid attention to differences in alternative decision-making, where a person's autonomy was preserved into the future even in situations where a person may have been perceived as unable to make the decision at hand. Thus, a basic respect for the individual and humanity would have required us to do more, namely, to pay attention to the impediments in the decision-making process.