Centre for Policy on Ageing



Confidence in managing late-life suicidality — a national survey of nurse practitioners
Author(s)	Margaret E Adamek, Mark S Kaplan
Journal title	Journal of Mental Health and Aging, vol 9 no 3, Fall 2003
Pages	pp 171-182
Keywords	Suicide ; Symptoms ; Psychiatric treatment ; Nurses ; United States of America.
Annotation	In the US, the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in delivering geriatric mental health care has expanded. This study examines the factors associated with NP confidence in managing late-life suicidality. A national sample of 340 NPs completed a postal questionnaire (a more than 60% response). Central findings suggest that training in geriatric mental health and suicide risk assessment were highly predictive of levels of confidence. A favourable assessment of mental health training in nursing school was positively associated with confidence. Experience with suicidal patients also plays an important role in NP confidence levels. New opportunities to upgrade NP knowledge and skills in geriatric mental health are critical in reducing the high rate of older suicides. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-040519204 A
Classmark	EV: CT: LP: QTE: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.