Table 5.

Motives in favour of completion of AD (multiple answers possible)

Participant completed an AD because…	Total (N=736)*	Outpatients of a university clinic (n1=567)	Outpatients of private practices (n2=169)
She/he does not want to suffer unnecessarily	504 (68)	385 (68)	119 (70)
She/he does not want to be a burden to anyone	402 (55)	297 (52)	105 (62)
Physicians are instructed to do everything possible to preserve one’s life	250 (34)	186 (33)	64 (38)
She/he wants to make her/his own decisions	231 (31)	183 (32)	48 (28)
She/he distrusts physicians to decide in her/his best interest	178 (24)	131 (23)	47 (28)
She/he has had experiences with intense care for relatives	164 (22)	127 (22)	37 (22)
She/he completed it in the course of receiving legal advice	130 (18)	95 (17)	35 (21)
She/he distrusts her/his relatives to decide in her/his best interest	88 (12)	68 (12)	20 (11)

*N on this variable differs from the total N due to missing values.

For all variables, the numbers of participants (percentages in brackets) are given.

AD, advance directive.