Conocimientos y actitudes de los mayores hacia el documento de voluntades anticipadas

objectives: the aim of this study was to determine seniors' knowledge of and attitudes toward advance directive documents. methods: we carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study in a primary care setting in the provinces of albacete and guadalajara, spain (n = 464). results: a total of 86.2% (95% ci: 83.0-89.5) of the participants were unaware of advance directive documents and only 3.4% (95% ci: 1.7-5.3) had formalized one. these documents were positively viewed by 76.7% of the participants (95% ci: 72.8-80.7). the variables associated with positive attitudes toward advance directives in logistic regression were educational level (or = 4.7; 95% ci: 2.6-8.4) and experience of a situation in which such a document would have helped (or = 1.7; 95% ci: 1.1-3.4). conclusions: seniors had positive attitudes toward advance directives, but the proportion of persons aware of these documents was low.