Measuring preparedness to address patient preferences at the end of life.

This study investigated the factor structure of an instrument to measure preparedness perception among Florida licensed clinical social workers for work with elders 'end-of-life care. In a principle component analysis with varimax rotation, three factors were identified with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 and a cumulative variance of 66.982 percent. These factors include: 1) knowledge of end-of-life care, 2) knowledge of resources for elders, and 3) attitude toward elder assisted suicide. The development of this type of instrument may be useful for future research and for determining future educational needs of social workers and other professionals.