Survey methodology

We conducted a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included the DAI, items concerning the participant’s demographics, and end-of-life care preferences. As for end-of-life care preferences, we asked patients where they would like to spend their final days and whether or not they would like to be told how long they have left to live. These results were reported previously [9]. We also questioned physicians regarding their religious beliefs. We distributed questionnaires among physicians, nurses, and cancer patients. The completed questionnaires from physicians and nurses were returned via post while those from cancer patients were returned via post or turned in to their doctors. The general population was contacted via E-mail. The investigation periods were between January 2007 and September 2014, between January and December of 2007, between January and August of 2008, and between September 2008 and September 2009, for physicians, nurses, cancer patients, and the general population, respectively. One year after the survey, we conducted a follow-up survey to determine the survival status of the participants.