Psychosocial Aspects of Suicide on Elderly People and Perceptions of Survivors

Abstract

Suicide among older adults has become a relevant topic for public health in the last decades. Regarding suicidal rates in older adults, literature estimates that although they have smaller numbers of attempts compared to other age ranges, the rates for accomplished suicides are higher. The objective of the research was to investigate the psychosocial circumstances of death caused by suicide in older ages which occurred in a city in northwest Rio Grande do Sul (RS), through a script of semistructured interview of the tool “Psychological and psychosocial autopsy about suicides in older adults”, with qualitative approach. A collective case study was conducted, where six psychosocial autopsies of older adults who committed suicide were carried out. The participants were family members and people who had some meaningful bond with the ones who committed suicide, and the information from the interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis. From the research, it was possible to investigate the psychosocial circumstances involved in the death caused by suicide of older adults. Concerning psychosocial factors, it is possible to list the diseases, the presence of mental disorders, the existence of family conflicts and the history of losses as factors found in this population correlated with suicide.