Journal Article Review Assignment - Essay Example

Journal Article Review Introduction The of the article is “Alcohol Use Disorder in Elderly Suicide Attempters: A comparison Study” ed by Morin et al. (2013) and published in ‘The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry’ on February 2013. Conceptualization The authors wanted to find out the lifetime prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in older adults who had undergone hospitalization and suicide attempt compared to the comparison group. The authors further wanted to investigate the suicidal behaviors of attempters with or without AUD.

The relevant social theory under investigation in the raised issue covered by the study is the social anxiety disorder which has a relevant link to people with AUD condition. Alcohol abuse or dependence emerged in the investigation, which in particular has significant relation to the occurrence of crime such as actual suicide and suicide attempts. Literature Review Suicide attempts, as crime-related scenarios were remarkable in various geographical contexts, but there is no significant amount of studies trying to investigate the actual contribution of alcohol use disorder on the prevalence of suicide attempt.

In the chosen study, the proponents have remarkably investigated this concern by employing older adults who were hospitalized in connection with a suicide attempt. In order to further understand this claim, the proponents investigated further the suicidal behaviors of respondents with suicidal attempting experience even if they have AUD or not. This is to remarkably create a link to a significant gap in the literature concerning this issue. Introduction of the Current Study The major variables in the study are the suicidal attempt information and the presence of AUD.

This is to investigate if suicidal attempt is linked to the presence of AUD or not. Therefore, the proponents chose to hypothesize that there is a strong association between AUD and hospital-treated suicide attempts. Research Design The specific individuals included in the study were 70 years or older, who were having hospital treatment due to suicide attempt during 2003-2006. Out of the 133 eligible participants, 103 of them were enrolled in the study, which comprised the 47 men, 56 women, and both groups with average age of 80 years and a response rate of 77%.

Random sampling technique was employed. The methods used for collecting the data were registration and direct observations of the past historical data. The data collection took place in Europe and later in 2012. The actual data gathering was implemented by the proponents of the research study. Statistical analysis involved was correlation, because the proponents were after of finding the actual level association between the variables. In order to implement this, the case comparison was initiated.

What was written in the tables presented in the results can be best explained by this:“AUD was observed in 26% of the cases and in 4% of the comparison group (odds ratio [OR]: 10.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.9–22.5). Associations were noted in men (OR: 9.5; 95% CI: 4.0–22.8) and women (OR: 12.0; 95% CI: 2.4–59.5). More than half of the cases with AUD and a third of those without AUD had made at least one prior suicide attempt. In these, AUD was associated with a longer interval between the first attempt and the index attempt” (Morin et al., 2013, p.196).

In other words, the tables consist of information that is in line with the strength of association of AUD and suicide attempts between the comparison group and the chosen respondents with respect to gender information. Obviously, the level of significance was mentioned in these tables.Conclusions According to the study, “A strong association between AUD and hospital-treated suicide attempts was noted in both sexes in this northern European setting. Given the high rates of suicide worldwide in this fast-growing and vulnerable group, comparison studies in other settings are needed” (Morin et al., 2013, p.196).

This finding eventually supports the hypothesis. ReferenceMorin, J., Wiktorsson, S., Marlow, T., Olesen, P. J., Skoog, I., & Waern, M. (2013). Alcohol Use Disorder in Elderly Suicide Attempters: A Comparison Study. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 21(2), 196-203.