A series of new studies has found that suicide in long-term care is an all-too-real concern, but it’s not one without opportunities for intervention.
The research is a call for operators to examine how they are supporting mental health among their residents, especially those moving in, said Briana Mezuk, Ph.D.
The University of Michigan researcher’s JAMA Network Open analysis is the most extensive on long-term care suicides.
She and her colleagues identified 1,037 such deaths between 2003 and 2015. Among them, 449 adults described in death reports as in the process of transitioning in or out of long-term care.
They reported another 160 suicides among older adults caring for a family member who lived in long-term care, had experienced a recent hospitalization that might precipitate long-term care, or had expressed concerns about the cost of long-term care.
“Many of the transition cases that we identified referenced fear, loss of autonomy, isolation, being a burden, or financial costs,” Mezuk told McKnight’s. “The whole point of this work is that people say, ‘Is there something we could be doing differently?’”
Suicide prevention efforts should try to address underlying factors in addition to restricting means for self-harm or prescribing medication to help with depression or other behavioral health issues, Mezuk said.
From the August 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
