Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T21:26:49.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preliminary Report on Informed Consent for Mental Capacity Assessments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Rona Abramovitch ,
Mary Finstad  and
Michel Silberfeld
Rona Abramovitch
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Mary Finstad
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Michel Silberfeld
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The goal of the study was to investigate the issue of informed consent for mental capacity. Seventeen clients referred to the Competency Clinic at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care were interviewed after the assessment had been completed. Their responses to questions regarding the reasons for and possible consequences of the assessment indicated a range of understanding and of capacity to give informed consent. The results are discussed in terms of the appropriateness of having a fairly low threshold for informed consent in situations where other capacities are already in question.

Résumé

La présente étude avait pour but d'étudier le consentement éclairé, c'est-à-dire donné en connaissance de cause, et la capacité intellectuelle. Dix-sept patients qui avaient été aiguillés à la Competency Clinic (clinique d'évaluation de la capacité intellectuelle) du Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care ont été interrogés à la suite de leur évaluation. Les réponses qu'ils ont données relativement aux questions entourant les raisons et les conséquences possibles de l'évaluation indiquent une variation de la compréhension et de la capacité de donner un consentement éclairé. Les résultats sont analysés afin de déterminer si le niveau peu élevé de consentement éclairé convient dans les cas où les autres capacités sont déjà remises en question.

Keywords

Informed ConsentCapacityElderlyAssessment.Consentement éclairécapacitéaînésévaluation.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , Fall/automne 1993 , pp. 373 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Applebaum, P.S., Lidz, C.W., & Meisel, A. (1987). Informed Consent: Legal Theory & Clinical Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, S. (1978). Informed Consent, Research, and the Elderly. Gerontologist, 18, 237–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fitten, L.J., Lusky, R., & Hamann, C. (1990). Assessing Treatment Decision-Making Capacity in Elderly Nursing Home Residents. Journal of American Geriatrics Society, 38, 1097–1104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fitten, L.J., & Waite, M.S. (1990). Impact of Medical Hospitalization on Treatment Decision-Making Capacity in the Elderly. Archives of Internal Medicine, 150, 1717–1721.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kloezen, S., Fitten, L.J., & Steinberg, A. (1988). Assessment of Treatment Decision-Making Capacity in a Medically III Patient. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 36, 1055–1058.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loughlin-Makarushka, J., & McDonald, R.D. (1979). Informed Consent, Research, and Geriatric Patients: The Responsibility of Institutional Review Committees. Gerontologist, 19, 61–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepper-Smith, R., Stein, E., Harvey, W.R.C., Rutman, D., & Silberfeld, M. (1992). Consent to Competency Assessments. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 16, 15–23.Google Scholar
Reich, W.T. (1978). Ethical Issues Related to Research Involving Elderly Subjects. Gerontologist, 18, 326–337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Silberfeld, M. (1991). Competency Assessments. Estates and Trusts Journal, 11, 165–175.Google Scholar
Silberfeld, M., Dickens, B.M., Harvey, W.R.C., & Pepper-Smith, R. (1988). A Competency Clinic for the Elderly at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. Advocates Quarterly, 10, 23–28.Google Scholar
Stanley, B., Guido, J., Stanley, M., & Shortell, D. (1984). The Elderly Patient and Informed Consent. Journal of the American Medical Association, 252, 1302–1306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, A., Fitten, L.J., & Kachuck, N. (1986). Patient Participation in Treatment Decision-Making in the Nursing Home: The Issue of Competence. The Gerontological Society of America, 26, 362–366.Google ScholarPubMed
Taub, H.A. (1980). Informed Consent, Memory and Age. Gerontologist, 20, 686–690.Google Scholar
Taub, H.A., Kline, G.E., & Baker, M.T. (1981). The Elderly and Informed Consent: Effects of Vocabulary Level and Corrected Feedback. Experimental Aging Research, 7, 137–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tymchuk, A.J., & Ouslander, J.G. (1990). Optimizing the Informed Consent Process with Elderly People. Educational Gerontology, 16, 245–257.Google Scholar
Wales, J.B., & Treybig, D.L. (1978). Recent Legislative Trends Toward Protection of Human Subjects: Implications for Gerontologists. Gerontologist, 18, 244–249.Google Scholar