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Self-harm and suicide in older adults

Since 2019 the Lifeline Research Office has partnered with the Ageing Futures Institute of UNSW to inform advocacy around suicide and older people, and to enhance the evidence base around Crisis Supporter awareness of elder suicide as well as dementia and dementia-related issues.

Project Summary 

Suicide in older people is a major public health issue (Chan et al., 2018) mandating the study of sustainable interventions to prevent suicide. Telephone crisis line services play a major role in suicide prevention. Crisis support lines provide an inexpensive, convenient and anonymous means of seeking support and are increasingly accessed (Kitchingman et al., 2015).

Though dementia certainly is not exclusive to older adults, there is evidence rates increase significantly with age. In Australia, less than 1 person per 1000 under the age of 60 is diagnosed with dementia, with that rate rising to 71 per 1000 from ages 75-79 and 429 per 1000 for Australians aged 90 and over (AIHW 2023). Notably, there is evidence that a dementia diagnosis is associated with increased risk of suicide amongst older adults. In one study, adults who had been diagnosed with dementia within the previous 12 months had a 54% increased risk of death by suicide (An et al, 2019).

The Lifeline Research Office has since 2019 been engaged with the Ageing Futures Institute of UNSW to inform advocacy around suicide and older people and to enhance the evidence base around Crisis Supporter awareness of elder suicide as well as dementia and dementia-related issues.

Recent publications

Educating crisis supporters about self-harm and suicide in older adults

Wand, A P., Jessop, T., Peisah, C. (2022). Available at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34799248/

  • This study aimed to describe existing knowledge of Crisis Supporters regarding self-harm and suicide in older adults and investigate knowledge translation through use of a novel online adaptive learning tool.
  • 104 Crisis Supporters completed the tool (pre-test, middle lesson and post-test). There was significant improvement in knowledge of Crisis Supporters after the intervention.
  • Results of the study identify that the completing the training tool was effective in increasing Crisis Supporters’ knowledge and understanding of self-harm and suicide in older adults.

The Conversation: Suicide rates reveal the silent suffering of Australia's ageing men

Available on the Conversation website. 

The Aging Futures Institute of UNSW published a Conversation article with the support of The Lifeline Research Office to highlight that men aged over 85 have the highest suicide rates in Australia.