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Purpose: This study was to identify the relationship between stress, depression and suicidal ideation in the elderly. Methods: The subjects were 201 elderly adults over 60 in Seoul. Data were collected by questionnaire surveys using convenience sampling. The instruments used in this study are the Seo's SESS(Seo‘s Elderly Stress Scale) developed by Seo, Yu & Hah(2001), the GDSSF-K(Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form-Korea) by Kee( 1996) developed by Sheilkh & Yesavage(1986), and the SSI(Scale for Suicidal Ideation) developed by Beck et al.(1979). Data were analyzed by the SPSS/PC 11.0 program, using descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, t-test, ANOVA and stepwise Multiple Regression. Results: The mean suicidal ideation score was 24.81, which was near moderate level. The suicidal ideation was influenced significantly by marrital status, income, spending money and perceived health status. There were significant correlations between all the predictive variables and the suicidal ideation(r= 0.481 〜 0.592, p <0.05). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that 34.3% of the suicidal ideation was significantly accounted by depression(25.7%)，stress(5.0%) and education(3.6%). Conclusion: These results suggested that depression and stress can be potential risk factors in suicidal ideation of the elderly. Therefore, these findings will give useful information for constructing an intervening and preventative program focused on suicidal prevention in the elderly.
Jang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.