The researchers investigated, through online survey, the opinions of Canadian registered psychologists on the practice of assisted death and their confidence in their abilities for assessing competency in those who request assisted death. This research topic is of significant value given that there have been few published data on this topic specific to this target population. Further, changes to Canada's current legislation surrounding assisted death may require psychologists to develop familiarity with this issues surrounding end-of-life care. In total, 97 participants were recruited through the Canadian Psychological Association Research Portal, Facebook advertising, and provincial and territorial psychological associations. Descriptive statistics were used. The data demonstrated that these participants support physician-assisted death for terminal, but not mental, illness. In addition, these psychologists had limited confidence in their ability to assess the competency of terminally ill individuals to provide informed consent to the receipt of physician-assisted death. Participants expressed an interest in professional training. Implications for this study include a new perspective being added to the debate on assisted death as well recognition that psychologists may have an important role to play in the legalization and regulation of these controversial practices. Future challenges and opportunities for psychologists are provided.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.