Aragonese specialists create a practical guide to prevent suicide in older people

This is an initiative framed in the Suicide Prevention Strategy in Aragon and accompanied by an important training action.

Statistics indicate that those over 60 years of age constitute the age group with the highest risk of suicide in our society.

City councils, Social Services professionals and different centers and entities that work with older people will be the recipients of the 3.500 practical guides on suicide prevention in this group prepared within the Suicide Prevention Strategy in Aragon. The initiative was presented today along with the diptych “If you are an elderly person and it seems to you that there is no more hope”, intended for the elderly themselves and whose 80.000 copies will be distributed in offices and pharmacy medicine cabinets, health centers and care centers to older people.

Furthermore, during 2021, and in compliance with the objectives of said strategy, a significant deployment of mental health training has been carried out for the agents involved in caring for this group. Pharmacists, nearly 700 social work professionals and more than 250 people dedicated to the care of the elderly have participated in the courses held over the past year for this purpose.

The psychiatrist Eugenia González, one of the coordinators of these materials within the Aragonese Suicide Prevention Strategy, has explained that the innovative suicide prevention strategies in people over 60 years of age are those that manage to involve family members, neighbors and others. members of the community of belonging, focusing on risk detection and depression prophylaxis in residential, geriatric, and health or social care settings.

In the presentation that took place today, the executive director of the IISA, Óscar López, Dr. González, the technical advisor of the IASS Ana Sánchez Fumanal and the president of the Official College of Pharmacists of Zaragoza, Raquel García, who, along the same lines, has highlighted the role of pharmacies and pharmacists in the early detection and prevention of suicide. “As health professionals on the front line and due to the special relationship of trust and closeness with patients, pharmacists may have contact with older people who are contemplating or planning to commit suicide, making this opportunity a determining factor in offering them help,” said García. .

Both the guide and the diptych, available on the Government of Aragon website, arise from the collaborative work of the Health Research Institute of Aragon, the Aragonese Institute of Social Services, the general directorates of Health Assistance and Public Health, the Aragonese Service of Health, the Zaragoza City Council, the Aragonese Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, and the Red Cross.

The most vulnerable group

It is estimated that between 30 and 50% of suicides in developed societies occur in people over 60 years of age, this being the age group at highest risk. Some of the factors linked to suicide in them are chronic illnesses, loss of functionality, terminal states of illness, mental disorders (especially depression), conflicts in interpersonal relationships and loneliness.

In Aragon there is a high degree of aging of the population, being the fifth oldest Autonomous Community in Spain. During the year 2020, the highest prevalence of suicides in our Community occurred in single marital status (almost 37%) and the age group with the highest prevalence of suicide was those over 79 years of age. Of the 103 suicides that year, 19 corresponded to those over 79 years of age and the same number to people between 70 and 79 years of age. The 60 to 69 year old group added another 13 deaths. Overall then, confirming the studies on the subject, 44 of the 103 suicides correspond to those over 60 years of age.

The subjective perception of no or a small number of people you can count on, that is, the lack of social support, has been described as a risk factor for completed suicide. The European Health Survey (2014) shows the social vulnerability of Aragonese people over 65 years of age, since nearly 14% stated that they could not count on any person or a maximum of two in the event of a serious problem. Making matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in loneliness and social disconnection.