Project Overview
SHOAR is a two-year study led by Dr Isabela Troya, funded by a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship which commenced in May 2022. Self-harm, the act of harming oneself, is an increasing societal concern worldwide.
Annually in Ireland, more than 400 people die by suicide and a further 12,500 present to hospital following self-harm, of which approximately 15% are older adults (aged >60).
Worldwide, the age group that is most likely to die by suicide is represented by older adults, in particular men.
In Ireland, there is limited research examining self-harm and suicide in older adults. Specifically, the profile of older adults who self-harm is not well known, or what factors affect older people who self-harm.
Project Aims
- To examine individual and psychosocial determinants of self-harm in older adults to improve risk assessment and management of self-harm in later life.
- To gain a better understanding of self-harm in older adults, and to inform policy, patients, clinicians, and the Irish healthcare system.
This is a multi-method study, using two large national databases (National Self-Harm Registry Ireland and The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing) combined with primary research (interviewing health practitioners who support older adults).
Team Members Involved
Principal Investigator: Dr Isabela Troya
Members of the Steering Group
NSRF: Prof Ella Arensman, Dr Paul Corcoran, Dr Eve Griffin
External: Dr Robert Briggs and Dr Mark Ward (Trinity College Dublin), Prof Eugene Cassidy and Dr Caoimhe Ni Lonergan (Cork University Hospital), Sally Ann Lovejoy and Prof Vincent Russell (National Clinical Programme for Self-Harm, HSE), Dr James O’Mahony (School of Nursing, UCC), Dr Faraz Mughal (Keele University).
Publications / Outputs
Troya MI, Griffin E, Arensman E, Cassidy E, Mughal F, Lonergan CN, O’Mahony J, Lovejoy S, Ward M, Corcoran P. Hospital-presenting self-harm among older adults living in Ireland: a 13-year trend analysis from the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland. International psychogeriatrics. 2024 May;36(5):396-404. doi.org/10.1017/S1041610223000856
Troya MI, Lonergan C, Cassidy E, Griffin E, Lovejoy SA, Mughal F, Russell V, Arensman E. Healthcare practitioners’ views of self‐harm management practices in older adults in Ireland: A qualitative study. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 2024 Jul;39(7):e6116. doi.org/10.1002/gps.6116
Troya MI, Corcoran P, Arensman E, Kavalidou K. Patterns of hospital presenting suicide-related ideation in older adults before and during COVID-19: findings from a national clinical service in Ireland 2018-2021. Archives of suicide research. 2024 Feb 28:1-2. doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2024.2307882
Updates
SHOAR will officially be completed on January 31, 2025.
Check out our Publications / Outputs section above to read findings arising from our research.
We will also be launching a new research project arising from the findings from SHOAR, so watch this space.
