@article{ref1,
title="Direct and indirect associations between loneliness and thoughts of self-harm among a clinical sample of older adults with serious mental illness",
journal="Journal of nervous and mental disease",
year="2020",
author="Dell, Nathaniel A. and Huang, Jin and Buttafuoco, Kayla A. and Vidovic, Kristina R. and Murphy, Allison M. and Farrar, Leon A.",
volume="208",
number="10",
pages="828-832",
abstract="This cross-sectional study examines the relationships of loneliness and depressive symptoms to thoughts of self-harm among a clinical sample (n = 150) of older adults (M = 58.42 years, SD = 5.86 years; male, 55.3%; African American, 61.3%) with serious mental illness (SMI) receiving publicly funded, community-based psychiatric rehabilitation services. Participants completed the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Patient Health Questionnaire 9, and Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form. Mediation analyses tested the association of loneliness with thoughts of self-harm through depressive symptoms and were adjusted for social support and demographic variables. The direct association of loneliness with thoughts of self-harm was mediated by depressive symptoms; indirect associations of overall and emotional loneliness to thoughts of self-harm were significant. <br><br>FINDINGS suggest the need for clinicians to reduce feelings of loneliness among older adults with SMI as a means of partially ameliorating depressive symptoms and thoughts of self-harm.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-3018",
doi="10.1097/NMD.0000000000001213",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000001213"
}