Surrogate consent for critical care research: exploratory study on public perception and influences on recruitment

Table 2 Sample characteristics of participants (total recruited = 305)

Sample Characteristics	Number	%
Age range: 21 to 81 (median 42) years	305	100.0
Gender
Male	151	49.5
Female	154	50.5
Ethnic group
Chinese	199	65.2
Malay	36	11.8
Indian	40	13.1
Eurasian	11	3.6
Others*	19	6.2
Marital status
Single	99	32.5
Married	200	65.6
Divorced	6	2.0
Highest level of education
Primary school	7	2.3
Secondary school	64	21
Junior college	26	8.5
Diploma	87	28.5
Bachelors degree	87	28.5
Masters degree	24	7.9
Doctoral degree (PhD, MD)	10	3.3
Occupation ^‡
I) Professional	96	31.5
II) Managerial/technical	104	34.1
III) Unskilled	10	3.3
IV) Student	25	8.2
V) Unemployed and homemakers	22	7.2
VI) Retired	22	7.2
VII) Others (withheld, self-employed et cetera)	26	8.5

^‡Registrar General Scale of Social Class [17]. *Includes Indonesian, Caucasian, Arab.

ISSN: 1364-8535