Suicide Ideation in Hispanic and Latino Family Caregivers: Daily Prevalence and Risk Factors

TL;DR

This study finds that suicide ideation is common among Hispanic and Latino dementia caregivers, with risk factors like depression and social isolation playing a key role.

Contribution

The study is the first to examine suicide ideation prevalence and risk factors in Hispanic and Latino dementia caregivers using daily diary data.

Findings

27% of caregivers reported suicide ideation on at least one day during the 21-day study period.

Emotion-focused coping reduced suicide ideation days, while social isolation increased them.

Depression, emotional suppression, and dysfunctional coping were significant predictors of suicide ideation.

Abstract

Family caregivers face elevated risk of suicide ideation (SI). Hispanic and Latino (H&L) family caregivers of people living with dementia experience high burden yet remain understudied regarding SI. In H&L caregivers, we examined SI prevalence and associated risk factors using data from the Nuestros Días (Our Days) Study. 178 H&L family caregivers of people living with dementia (age: M = 56.3 (SD = 10.1), sex: 89.3% female) completed daily diary surveys (N = 3,237 observations) assessing SI over 21 days. Predictors, including depressive symptoms, coping strategies, emotion regulation, perceived stress, alcohol use, global health, and social isolation were assessed at baseline. Caregivers completed four questions daily to assess passive or active SI for 21 days (mean completion 18.2 (SD = 3.61) days). A stepwise zero-inflated Poisson regression, controlling for differences in the number of days observed with an offset, was used to predict total days of reported SI. 27.0% of participants (N = 48) reported passive or active SI on at least 1 day. Of these participants, the median number of days with SI was 2 (interquartile range 1 to 10.25). The final predictive model for days of SI included depression, emotional suppression, dysfunctional coping, emotion-focused coping, and social isolation (R2=.77, p<.001). Emotion-focused coping (sIRR=.637, 95% CI [0.534, 0.760], p<.0001) was significantly associated with fewer days of reported SI while social isolation (sIRR=2.337, 95% CI [1.680, 3.251], p<.0001) was significantly associated with more days of SI. In conclusion, SI is common among H&L family caregivers. Therapies that target improving emotion-based coping strategies and reducing social isolation might reduce SI.