#JamesDonaldsononMentalHealth – Older Adults In Long-Term Care Need #MentalHealth, #Suicide Prevention Care

ByTauren Dyson (0)

Lawmakers and medical professionals need to help curb the #suicide risk for older adults living in long-term care, a new study shows. File Photo by C Levers/Shutterstock

JamesDonaldson notes:

 Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.

Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.

Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticle

 

June 17 (UPI) — Lawmakers and medical professionals need to help curb the #suicide risk for older adults living in long-term care, a new study shows.

The research, published Monday in JAMA Network Open, highlights the importance of providing emotional well-being and other #mentahealth care services to adults over age 55 who live in, or are thinking of moving into, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

“There are things we can do to promote the emotional health and psychosocial well-being of people who are living in long-term care facilities or are transitioning into them and their family members,” Briana Mezuk, a researcher at University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and study lead author, said in a news release.

For the study, the researchers used a computer algorithm to examine data from police and medical examiner reports on 47,759 #suicide deaths of people over age 55. The data was collected between 2003 and 2015.RELATED Deaths from drug ODs, suicide soaring among millennials, report shows

Through that time, more than 1,000 of those #suicide deaths occurred in long-term care settings. Among that group, 428 adults committed #suicide while living in long-term facilities and 449 were transitioning into or out of long-term care, researchers say.

Beyond patients, 160 adult caregivers helping elderly family members in long-term care or during recovery from a hospitalization, also took their own lives. The study suggests these relatives may have felt stress or fear from the financial burden of providing long-term care.

“We need to be supporting interventions to promote the emotional #health of people in their 60s or 70s, 80s and 90s, even if they also happen to have diabetes or they happen to have mobility problems,” Mezuk said. “#Suicide is a very extreme outcome; it is the tip of the iceberg.”RELATED Epilepsy drug linked to increased suicide risk in young people

Adults between age 45 and 54 make up 20.2 percent of the suicides in the United States, but rates for people over age 85 come a close second at 20.1 percent, according to the #AmericanFoundationforSuicidePrevention.

“We have a diverse set of tools and techniques for promoting emotional #health of older adults and thus reducing #suicide risk; they aren’t being implemented to their fullest degree,” Mezuk said. “Our analysis helps illustrate the importance of addressing this gap.”