Suicidal ideation in family carers of people with dementia
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Two small studies have suggested that family carers of people with dementia may be a high-risk group for suicide. The objective of this study was to further explore the rate of suicidal ideation in a large sample of carers and identify psychosocial risk and protective factors. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 566 family carers. The survey included measures of suicidality, self-efficacy, physical health, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, optimism, burden, coping strategies, and social support. RESULTS: Sixteen percent of carers had contemplated suicide more than once in the previous year. There were univariate differences between suicidal and non-suicidal carers on self-efficacy, social support, coping, burden, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, optimism, reasons for living, and symptoms of dementia, as well as age and income management. In a multivariate model, age, depression, and reasons for living predicted suicidal ideation. In tests for mediation, satisfaction with social support and dysfunctional coping had indirect effects on suicidal ideation via depression. CONCLUSION: Family carers of people with dementia have high rates of suicidal ideation, with depression a risk factor and increasing age and reasons for living as protective factors. Depression and reasons for living should be targeted in interventions to reduce suicide risk in dementia carers.
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Dementia carers are considered to be a high-risk group for death by suicide, and this risk does not appear to be diminished by the death or institutionalisation of the care recipient.
“Not surprisingly, dementia carers are considered to be a highrisk group for death by suicide, and this risk does not appear to be diminished by the death or institutionalisation of the care recipient (Joling et al. , 2017; O'Dwyer et al. , 2016).”
From Which interventions work for dementia family carers?: an updated systematic review of randomized controlled trials of carer interventions. (2018) · cites this paper as O'Dwyer et al. , 2016
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References 35 · Cited by 101
- Authors
- O'Dwyer, S. T., Moyle, W., Zimmer-Gembeck, M., & De Leo, D.
- Affiliations
- Griffith University (AU)
- ORCID
- Moyle, Wendy
- Venue
- Aging & Mental Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-07-10
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 222-230
- ISSN
- 1360-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1364-6915
- OpenAlex
- W4240844464
- Cited by
- 101
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 8.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Aging & Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Griffith University
- Dementia Collaborative Research Centres, Australia
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Keywords
- suicidal ideation, family caregivers, dementia, depression, reasons for living, social support, coping strategies, caregiver burden, self-efficacy, hopelessness, suicide risk factors, protective factors
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Analysis of Variance, Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Dementia, Depression, Family, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Social Support, Suicide, Attempted, Logistic Models, Caregivers, Self Efficacy, Suicidal Ideation
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