SUICIDAL IDEATION AMONGST ACUTELY MEDICALLY ILL AND CONTINUING CARE GERIATRIC INPATIENTS

Suicidal ideation amongst acutely medically ill and continuing care ge riatric inpatients has not been examined previously. Data from two poo led depression prevalence studies on acute geriatric wards and one suc h study on continuing care geriatric wards were re-examined. The Brief Assessment Schedule (BAS) measured depression. It also contains items measuring feelings of life not worth living, suicidal ideation and pe ssimism. The prevalence of feelings of life not worth living, suicidal ideation and pessimism were 29%, 13% and 50%, respectively, in the ac ute sample, 33%, 26% and 52%, respectively, in the continuing care sam ple, and 38%, 29% and 55%, respectively, in the continuing care dement ia sub-sample. These three variables were significantly inter-correlat ed, and they were associated with BAS depression scores and caseness i n both the acute and continuing care sample. I;Feelings of life not wo rth living, suicidal ideation and pessimism are not uncommon in this p opulation. Findings of this study require replication and implications for further avenues of research are discussed.