Preventing and responding to depression, self-harm, and suicide in older people living in long term care settings: a systematic review

Objective: The well documented demographic shift to an aging population means that more people will in future be in need of long term residential care. Previous research has reported an increased risk of mental health issues and suicidal ideation among older people living in residential care setting...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aging & mental health 2019-11, Vol.23 (11), p.1467-1477
Main Authors: Gleeson, Helen, Hafford-Letchfield, Trish, Quaife, Matthew, Collins, Daniela A., Flynn, Ann
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age groups
Aging
care homes
Demographics
depression
Evidence-based medicine
Geriatric psychiatry
Geriatric psychology
Health problems
Health risks
Health services
Literature reviews
Long term health care
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Older people
Prevention
Residential areas
Residential care
Residential institutions
Self destructive behavior
Self injury
staff training
Suicidal ideation
Suicide
Suicides & suicide attempts
Systematic review
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Summary:Objective: The well documented demographic shift to an aging population means that more people will in future be in need of long term residential care. Previous research has reported an increased risk of mental health issues and suicidal ideation among older people living in residential care settings. However, there is little information on the actual prevalence of depression, self-harm, and suicidal behavior in this population, how it is measured and how care homes respond to these issues. Method: This systematic review of international literature addressed three research questions relating to; the prevalence of mental health problems in this population; how they are identified and; how care homes try to prevent or respond to mental health issues. Results: Findings showed higher reported rates of depression and suicidal behavior in care home residents compared to matched age groups in the community, variation in the use of standardised measures across studies and, interventions almost exclusively focused on increasing staff knowledge about mental health but with an absence of involvement of older people themselves in these programmes. Conclusion: We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of addressing mental health difficulties experienced by older people in residential care and future research in this area.
ISSN:1360-7863
1364-6915
DOI:10.1080/13607863.2018.1501666