J Psychosoc Nurs Men
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J Psychosoc Nurs Men · Aug 2004
Dying patients' thoughts of ending their lives: a pilot study of rural New Mexico.
Forty-nine hospice patients in rural New Mexico were directly interviewed concerning their thoughts about ending their lives. Thirty-one patients (63%) did not have thoughts of ending their lives, whereas 18 patients (37%) reported having suicidal thoughts. There were no differences between patients with and without thoughts of suicide related to gender; ethnicity; age; education; disease; religion; importance of religion; location of hospice agency; remaining financial, family, or spiritual issues; satisfaction with hospice care; sum of hospice personnel seen; or sum of medical equipment used. ⋯ No other symptom, including pain and hopelessness, was significant. Seven (39%) of the 18 patients who thought of ending their lives told someone about these thoughts. There were no variable differences between patients who did and did not tell someone about these thoughts.