PsychInfo via Ovid MEDLINE, utilising the following
combinations of keywords: attempted suicide (and) elderly,
attempted suicide (and) older people, deliberate self-harm (and)
elderly, deliberate self-harm (and) older people, parasuicide
(and) elderly and parasuicide (and) older people – in English
from 1994-2014.
has been a significant lack of consistency in the terminology
and definitions adopted which describe suicidal
behaviour over the last twenty years. The use of multiple
terms to indicate similar behaviour such as ‘parasuicide’,
‘attempted suicide’ and ‘deliberate self-harm’ has resulted
in confusion, although renewed international debate
to address these issues is in progress (Arensman, 2015).
Secondly, we conducted an exhaustive search of the database