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This study investigates the factors influencing the willingness of older cancer patients to receive palliative care, considering the 'person-centered' approach to advance care planning in Taiwan. Autonomy challenges are prevalent among these patients. The retrospective study, conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in southern Taiwan from June 2020 to December 2022, included 195 eligible older cancer patients. Logistic regression was utilized to analyze factors influencing their willingness for palliative care. The optimal logistic regression analysis identified five key factors associated with receiving palliative care: age (OR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.20–0.92), educational level (OR, 2.82; 95% CI, 1.27–6.25), metastatic disease (OR, 4.62; 95% CI, 2.08–10.27), hospice and palliative care knowledge (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.11–1.57), and attitude (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.12–1.33). The findings suggest that younger, more educated patients with metastatic disease, higher knowledge of hospice and palliative care, and positive attitudes toward these services were more likely to receive palliative care. Patients' awareness of hospice and palliative care, attitudes shaped by such awareness, and disease status significantly influenced their willingness to undergo palliative care. This highlights the increasing vulnerability of older cancer patients to decision-making challenges as their illness progresses, emphasizing the importance of initiating conversations about advance care planning early on. Healthcare practitioners are urged to actively advocate for these discussions, particularly considering the decline in decision-making capacity as the disease advances. Future research should focus on empowering individuals in making end-of-life care choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the use of referring expressions in Mandarin-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). The data consist of narratives elicited from 18 children with DLD and 18 typically-developing (TD) children matched on chronological age. Participants' referring expressions were analysed in terms of referential form, function, and adequacy. The overall results of form – function mappings showed that the two groups of children were quite similar in their referential choices, indicating that both groups were sensitive to function constraints and listener needs. On the other hand, children with DLD were less successful than TD children in producing adequate subsequent mentions, suggesting that referential adequacy would be useful for identifying areas of difficulty children with DLD would have in referencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive functions of Mandarin speakers with poststroke aphasia and to investigate the relationship between nonlinguistic cognitive deficits and the severity of aphasia. Method: Twenty-three adults with aphasia resulting from left-hemispheric stroke and 23 adults matched for age and educational level completed a series of six nonlinguistic cognitive tests measuring nonverbal intelligence, short-term memory, visual selective attention, visual alternating attention, auditory selective attention, and auditory alternating attention. A standardized aphasia assessment (Concise Chinese Aphasia Test [CCAT]) was also conducted to evaluate the severity of aphasia. Data analyses examined cognitive functions by comparing task performance of the two groups and examining the relationship between scores on the cognitive tasks and aphasia severity based on a hierarchical regression analysis. Results: The aphasia group scored significantly lower than the control group on all nonlinguistic cognitive tasks with large effect sizes (d = 0.95 ~ 1.54). Significant associations between different nonlinguistic cognitive tasks and CCAT subtests were observed. Results from the hierarchical regression analysis showed that auditory alternating attention was the only factor that significantly predicted aphasia severity based on CCAT overall scores after age and education level were taken into account. Conclusions: The findings align with prior research observing deficits in nonlinguistic cognition in individuals with aphasia. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Priority given to supported decision-making has increased internationally since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPDs). Nations worldwide have moved to ratify and enact the CRPD. Methods: A questionnaire survey on the supported decision-making status was conducted in Japan and Taiwan (60 and 73 people, respectively; N = 133, 82 women and 51 men). Survey items were objective indicators based on the CRPD. Results: In both countries, people who are older (vs younger) or those having more (vs less) experience supporting persons with intellectual disabilities were more likely to practice supported decision-making. Relationships between persons with intellectual disabilities and family members are vital. Conclusions: It is necessary to establish appropriate supported decision-making methods, that do not depend on aspects such as support experience, for persons with intellectual disabilities in Japan and Taiwan. Additionally, it is necessary to clarify the relationship with the family in supported decision-making for persons with intellectual disabilities and to work together appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]