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Lee and Lee: Factors associated with Suicidal Ideation of Elderly People based on Complete Enumeration of a Community Setting
Original Article

J Korean Acad Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs 2019;28(4):393-403.

Published online: 17 December 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12934/jkpmhn.2019.28.4.393

Factors associated with Suicidal Ideation of Elderly People based on Complete Enumeration of a Community Setting

Soo Jung Lee, Eun Joo Lee

Assistance Professor, Department of Nursing, Kyungnam University, Changwon, Korea

Corresponding author: Lee, Eun Joo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1387-7621 Department of Nursing, Kyungnam University, 7 Kyungnamdaehak-ro, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon 51767, Korea. Tel: +82-55-249-2424, Fax: +82-55-249-22722, E-mail: abigail@kyungnam.ac.kr

Received 11 November 20199 December 2019       Accepted 16 December 2019

Copyright © 2019 The Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study were to investigate relationships of depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and social support with suicide ideation and to identify factors associated with suicidal ideation of elderly people.

Methods

A descriptive correlational study was conducted with 100 elderly people residing in a community setting. Data were collected in September 2019 through structured questionnaires to assess depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, social support, and suicide ideation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA with Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression analyses.

Results

Presence of spouse (t=-3.32, p<.001), satisfaction in children relationships (F=3.56, p=.032), overall life assessment (F=3.94, p=.023), and pain/ill-being (t=-2.04, p=.043) showed significant differences in suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation and self-esteem were negatively correlated (r=-.49, p<.001). Depression and suicidal ideation(r=.56, p<.001) and hopelessness and suicidal ideation (r=.49, p<.001) were positively correlated. Factors of suicidal ideation of elderly people were depression (β=.36, p=.017) and self-esteem (β=-.21, p=.046), that explained 30.1% of the total variance in the proposed model.

Conclusion

A community intervention programs for preventing suicide among elderly people should include nursing strategies about depression and self-esteem. In addition, partnership with elder's spouse could be helpful to reduce suicidal ideation.

Keywords: Aged, Suicide, Depression, Self concept

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Table 1.
General and Health Characteristics of Participants (N=100)
Variables Categories n (%) or M±SD
Sex Male Female 45 (45.0) 55 (55.0)
Age (year)   73.50±9.65
Education ≤Elementary school 60 (60.0)
≥Middle school 40 (40.0)
Religion Yes 66 (66.0)
No 34 (34.0)
Presence of spouse Yes No 63 (63.0) 37 (37.0)
Living arrangements Alone With spouse With children 24 (24.0) 56 (56.0) 20 (20.0)
Housing ownership Own house Others (rental or free) 63 (63.0) 37 (37.0)
Occupation Employed 47 (47.0)
Unemployed 53 (53.0)
Monthly household income (10,000 won)   110.55±86.37
Perceived economic status† Bad Intermediate Good 44 (44.4) 46 (46.5) 9 (9.1)
Perceived physical health† Vary bad Bad Good 10 (10.1) 39 (39.4) 46 (46.5)
Vary good 4 (4.0)
Satisfaction in children relationships† Unsatisfied Intermediate 4 (4.1) 28 (28.6)
Satisfied 66 (67.3)
Drinking Yes No 44 (44.0) 56 (56.0)
Smoking Never 70 (70.0)
  In the past Sometimes Everyday 17 (17.0) 4 (4.0) 9 (9.0)
Experience of depression treatment Yes No 7 (7.0) 93 (93.0)
Overall life assessment Bad 9 (9.0)
Intermediate Good 44 (44.0) 47 (47.0)
Exercise No problem 57 (57.0)
Having problems 43 (43.0)
Self management No problem Having problems 88 (88.0) 12 (12.0)
Daily activity No problem Having problems 74 (74.0) 26 (26.0)
Pain/ill-being Yes 60 (60.0)
No 40 (40.0)

† Excluded the cases due to missing value.

Table 2.
Differences in Suicidal Ideation of Elders by General and Health Characteristics (N=100)
Variables Categories M±SD t or F p
Sex Male 2.55±4.89 -0.09 .922
Female 2.65±5.12    
Education ≤Elementary school 3.05±5.94 1.07 .283
≥Middle school 1.95±3.05    
Religion Yes 3.16±5.60 -0.83 .407
No 2.29±4.64    
Presence of spouse Yes 1.39±2.33 -3.32 ＜.001
No 4.67±7.23    
Living arrangements Alone 3.37±7.57 3.02 .053
With spouse 1.55±0.32    
With children 4.25±5.99    
Housing ownership Own house 2.38±4.15 -0.59 .553
Others (chonsei, monthly rent, free rental, et al.) 3.00±6.22    
Occupation Employed 1.82±3.22 -1.47 .143
Unemployed 3.30±6.11    
Perceived economic status Bad 3.72±6.41 2.20 .116
Intermediate 1.76±3.56    
Good 1.11±1.45    
Perceived physical health Vary bad 4.50±8.56 0.56 .692
Bad 2.84±4.73    
Good 2.10±4.47    
Vary good 1.25±1.25    
Satisfaction in children Unsatisfieda 5.58±6.99 3.56 .032
relationships Intermediateb Satisfiedc 1.57±2.24 2.04±4.22   (a＞c)
Drinking Yes 2.89±5.30 -0.61 .537
No 2.26±4.63    
Smoking Never 2.57±5.00 1.70 .171
In the past 1.00±1.22    
Sometimes 3.50±5.74    
Everyday 5.55±7.87    
Experience of depression treatment Yes 1.14±1.46 -0.80 .424
No 2.72±5.15    
Overall life assessment Bada Intermediateb Goodc 6.33±9.59 3.00±5.29 1.53±2.74 3.94 .023 (a＞c)
Exercise No problem 1.98±3.42 -1.45 .149
Having problems 3.44±6.48    
Self management No problem 2.43±4.60 -0.96 .337
Having problems 3.91±7.45    
Daily activity No problem 2.10±4.28 -1.71 .091
Having problems 4.03±6.52    
Pain/ill-being Yes 3.43±5.83 -2.04 .043
No 1.37±3.06    
Table 3.
Descriptive Statistics of Study Variables (N=100)
Variables Range Min Max n (%) or M±SD
Depression 0~15 0 15 4.08±3.75
 Normal (0~5)       72 (72.0)
 Mild (6~10)       20 (20.0)
 Severe (11~15)       8 (8.0)
Hopelessness 0~20 0 20 8.01±6.00
Self-esteem 10~40 10 40 29.21±4.88
Social support 12~36 12 12 31.84±14.19
Suicidal ideation 0~38 0 25 2.61±5.00
 Normal (0~8)       90 (90.0)
 Mild (9~11)       2 (2.0)
 Mild to Severe (12~14)       3 (3.0)
 Severe (15~38)       5 (5.0)
Table 4.
Correlations among Study Variables related to Suicide Ideation (N=100)
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6
r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p)
1. Age 1          
2. Monthly household income -.07 (.435) 1        
3. Depression .04 (.643) -.25 (.010) 1      
4. Hopelessness .08 (.412) -.34 (＜.001) .79 (＜.001) 1    
5. Self-esteem -.07 (.486) .09 (.364) -.56 (＜.001) -.60 (＜.001) 1  
6. Social support -.05 (.586) .12 (.230) -.26 (.007) -.15 (.128) .14 (.154) 1
7. Suicidal ideation .01 (.874) -.15 (.113) .56 (＜.001) .49 (＜.001) -.49 (＜.001) -.13 (.168)
Table 5.
Factors of Suicidal Ideation among Elderly People (N=100)
Variables Categories Model 1
 Model 2
β SE t p β SE t p
Presence of spouse† (Yes)   -.23 0.95 -2.35 .021 -.16 0.90 -1.69 .094
Satisfaction in children Intermediate -.18 1,20 -1.17 .244 -.02 1.20 -0.17 .859
relationships† Satisfied -.08 1.51 -0.55 .580 -.00 1.38 -0.00 .996
Overall life assessment† Intermediate -.22 0.89 -1.77 .080 -.03 0.86 -0.23 .813
  Good -.08 1.70 -0.74 .457 -.07 0.97 -0.70 .485
Pain/ill-being† (Yes)   .07 0.94 0.73 .463 .02 0.86 0.24 .807
Depression           .36 0.19 2.43 .017
Hopelessness           .01 0.11 0.09 .922
Self-esteem           -.21 0.11 -2.02 .046
R2     .16     .35  
Adjusted R2     .13     .30  
F (p)     4.63 (.002)     6.96 (＜.001)  

† Referent group: Presence of spouse (No=0); Satisfaction in children relationships (Unsatisfied=0); Overall life assessment (Bad=0); Pain/ill-being (No=0); SE=standard error.

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