Suicidal ideation and self-determination in institutionalized elderly.

The right to self-determination is central to the current debate on rational suicide in old age. The goal of this exploratory study was to assess the presence of self-determination in suicidal institutionalized elderly persons. Eleven elderly persons with serious suicidal ideations were matched according to age, sex, and civil status with 11 nonsuicidal persons. The results indicated that suicidal persons did not differ from nonsuicidal persons in level of self-determination. There was, however, a significant difference between groups on the social subscale. Suicidal elderly persons did not seem to take others into account when making a decision or taking action. The results are discussed from a suicide-prevention perspective.