[Suicide attempt in pupils and university students: a Tunisian case study of 61 cases]

To determine the global profile of pupils and university students who made suicide attempts. We have retrospectively examined 1623 files of pupils and university students who have consulted the psycho-pedagogical unit of psychiatry department " B " of Hedi Chaker Hospital, Sfax -Tunisia, during this time span from January 1997 to December 2009. We have taken a census 61 of files of those consulting for suicide attempts. The prevalence of suicide attempts in Tunisian pupils and university students is low [3.75%] and is probably due to sociocultural considerations. It is often a young girl [70.5%] having school difficulties [50.8%] and adaptation problems [60.6%], impulsively accomplishing her suicide attempt [91.8%], at home [83.6%], by drug ingestion [70.6%]. This profile shows the major need for communication within the family, and for the generalization of listening units at schools and universities

[Evaluation of depression in elderly people living in nursing homes a study involving 35 people]

Depression in the elderly is often inadequately diagnosed and insufficiently treated. Regardless of the nature of the depression, the influence and the impact of the biological, situational social and psychological factors would be more important in old subjects than in young ones when the disorder occurs. The nursing home, as an institution, is another facilitating the appearance of depression. The aim of our survey is to determine the prevalence of depression in old people living in a nursing home and to evaluate the degree of their autonomy. Our study is a transverse, descriptive and analytical survey carried out on 35 old people at a nursing home in Sfax. Forty residents were excluded from this survey for reason for dementia [25 cases], debility [5 cases], disabling psychiatric pathologies [4 cases], deafness [5 cases] and one resident who refused the interview. The evaluation has been achieved using two scales specific to the geriatric practice: the scale of depression GDS [geriatric depression Scale] applied to 30 items. The scale of autonomy: IADL [Instrumental Activities of Daily Living] applied to 6 items. The examined populations was composed of 35 people aged from 65 to 93 with a sex ratio of 1.05. 51.4% of the residents were in a state of depression. Depression was more frequent in: Female subjects [58.8% of women compared to 44.4% of men]. Subjects aged less than 70 [66% of subjects aged less than 70 versus 40% of older subjects]. 17.1% of the residents were independent, 42.9% were dependent and 40% were heavily dependent. Depression in the elvederly is related to several depressive factors particularly for patients living in institution. This situation needs very important adaptive capacities