Project Title: Health Service Utilization associated with Suicidal Behaviours in the Elderly in Ontario

Research Team:
Clarke, D.
Colantonio, A.
Rhodes, A.

Research Partners:
This project is an innovative collaboration between CIHI, which manages the Ontario Trauma Registry, the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES), and the office of the Ontario Coroner.

Since 1994, the main thrust of mental health reform in Ontario has been towards 'shifting' resources from inpatient treatment to community-based resources. However, while some community-based programs have been given more money, others have had funding pulled. These shifts may have interacted with other policies important to the health/treatment of the elderly (e.g. around home care, acute care hospitals, welfare, drug policy, etc). This study responded to the need for information regarding: 1.) health care utilization and costs associated with suicidal behaviour in the elderly in Ontario; and 2.) the impact of reduction of mental health services over the last decade on suicidal behaviours, particularly in this population.

It assessed the feasibility of using existing data sources in Ontario to document a) health service utilization of seniors due to suicide attempts and b) the incidence of completed suicides over the last decade. It examined data from the Ontario Trauma Registry, the Death Data Set from the Ontario Coroner's office, home care data, and data from the Ontario Case Cost Project (OCCP) database for time points before and after the 1994 changes in the Mental Health Reform. It provided the basis for the doctoral research of M-THAC fellow, Diana Clarke. This project was awarded seed support in the April 2002 M-THAC Research Opportunities Fund Competition. Three manuscripts from this work are now under consideration for publication.

Selected Presentation:

• A poster on this project was presented at the 2007 M-THAC/Team Symposium, Moving Care From Hospital To Community: Selected Policy and Service Implications Symposium.