Clinical validation of the nursing diagnosis risk for suicide in the older adults.

OBJECTIVE: To clinically validate risk factors for the nursing diagnosis risk for suicide in older adults. METHODS: Case-control study (105 older adults). The strength of the association between variables was assessed using odds ratio (OR). Risk factors were grouped into hierarchical blocks according to the Integrated Motivational-Volitional Model of Suicidal Behaviour. RESULTS: Anxiety; guilt; divorce; hostility; inability to express feelings; loss of important relationship; financial problems; apathy; low self-esteem; hopelessness; dependence and functional incapacity; unhappiness; failure; frustration; marked change in attitude and behavior; sadness; self-neglect; stockpiling medication; depression; ideation and suicidal plans; and mental disorders were associated with risk for suicide. CONCLUSIONS: It is expected that this study will contribute to clinical nursing practice by the identification of this diagnosis in a safer and more precise manner. Descriptors: clinical judgment, nursing diagnosis, psychiatric nursing, suicide, older adult.

Tools, strategies and qualitative approach in relation to suicidal attempts and ideation in the elderly.

The article analyses the quality and consistency of a comprehensive interview guide, adapted to study attempted suicide and its ideation among the elderly, and imparts the method followed in applying this tool. The objective is to show how the use of a semi-structured interview and the organization and data analysis set-up were tested and perfected by a network of researchers from twelve universities or research centers in Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. The method involved application and evaluation of the tool and joint production of an instruction manual on data collection, systematization and analysis. The methodology was followed in 67 interviews with elderly people of 60 or older and in 34 interviews with health professionals in thirteen Brazilian municipalities and in Montevideo and Bogotá, allowing the consistency of the tool and the applicability of the method to be checked, during the process and at the end. The enhanced guide and the instructions for reproducing it are presented herein. The results indicate the suitability and credibility of this methodological approach, tested and certified in interdisciplinary and interinstitutional terms.

The influence of family problems and conflicts on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in elderly people.

Family conflicts and problems involve meanings that are constructed during the course of an existence, and become associated with other factors in manifestations of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in elderly people. These questions are analyzed in a qualitative study of interviews with elderly people in four different locations in Brazil. A total of 63 men and women took part, and the interviews were held in 2013 and 2014. The field data showed the following factors - in order of the importance that the interviewees gave to them: significant family losses; family and inter-generation conflicts; and explicit and veiled violence. The speech of the subjects showed, as elements that led them to try to end their lives: sadness; feelings of abandonment; isolation, incomprehension of their desires by their family members, and absence of manifestations of affection and/or respect. When telling their stories, they also gave clues about what they expect from their families: welcome, acceptance, comprehension and freedom to carry out their minor wishes; to end their lives in a dignified manner without suffering; to find help and protection for the progressive reduction of their capacities; to continue to participate in family decisions, and to prolong to the maximum their social achievements and prerogatives, such as property, authority and respect.

Is it possible to overcome suicidal ideation and suicide attempts? A study of the elderly.

This study presents a qualitative analysis of how older people who had attempted suicide began to overcome the desire and the urge to take their own life. This article is based on a survey of 87 Brazilian men and women aged 60 and over, living in different regions of Brazil, who have demonstrated suicidal behaviour; twenty of whom gave important information about their coping strategies. The analysis in this article only refers to the aforementioned twenty participants. All the participants were heard through semi-structured interviews, which included questions about the process of overcoming suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. The central focus of the analysis - overcoming suicidal ideation and suicide attempts - was based on the following concepts: coping strategies, autonomy, and emotional balance. Irrespective of the gender of the respondents, five centers of meaning emerged from the discourses of the elderly, which highlighted the effectiveness of the following factors: religiosity and religious practices; social and family support; the support of health services; contact with pets; and the recovery of the autonomy to manage their own lives. This study can help to support the primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behavior in older people.