Pilot study: feasibility of using the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) during acute suicidal crisis

Abstract

BackgroundAssessing youths in acute suicidal crisis is a common jet pivotal task in child and adolescent psychiatry, usually relying primarily on the clinicians skills of assessment. The objective of this pilot-study was to evaluate feasibility and usefulness of questionnaires during assessment of youths in acute suicidal crisis.Method31 adolescents, presenting for suicide assessment, and their caregivers, were asked upon emergency presentation to fill in the Suicidal-Ideation-Questionnaire (SIQ) and the Youth Life Status Questionnaire (Y-LSQ) before receiving an assessment by a clinician. The SIQ has 30 items, 8 of which are defined as critical items able to predict suicidality with the highest probability. The Y-LSQ (30 items) measures the overall level of psychological distress. It has one suicidal item, which was used in this study for validation of the SIQ result. Clinical judgment and test results were collected and analyzed by an independent researcher.ResultsIt was feasible to ask adolescents in acute suicidal crisis to fill in a questionnaire. Clinical assessment of suicidality did not correlate significantly with the overall SIQ-score (p = 0.089), however there was a significant correlation between the SIQ 8 critical item result and clinical judgement of suicidality (p = 0.050).ConclusionThe 8 critical SIQ items can be used to support clinical judgment of suicidality in acute crisis.

Psychosocial Correlates of Suicidal Ideation and Behavior in Adolescents and Preadolescent Children Discharged from Emergency Department

“…SIQ is a self-report instrument for suicidal ideation consisting of 15 items, providing an indication for levels of distress and suicidal intent (e.g., "I thought about how I would kill myself', "I thought about when I would kill myself"). SIQ has internal consistency reliability of .974 (Boege et al, 2014). In the current study SIQ's Cronbach's alpha was α = .94.…”

Evaluation of ReachOut.com, an Unstructured Digital Youth Mental Health Intervention: Prospective Cohort Study

“…The 8 critical items scale included statements such as “I thought about how I would kill myself,” and were measured on a 7-point scale (0= I never had this thought to 6= Almost every day ). These 8 items have demonstrated ecological validity, having been significantly correlated with clinical assessments of suicidality ( P =.05, [ 44 ]). A score of 5 or 6 on more than 3 items of the 8 critical items is considered to indicate a higher risk of suicide in adolescents [ 43 ].…”

Suicidality Treatment Occurring in Paediatrics (STOP) Medication Suicidality Side Effects Scale in young people in two cohorts across Europe

“…While the assessment of suicidality in post-marketing surveillance of new medications has been highlighted as a critical component in the drug development process, 11 the majority of the study instruments currently used to evaluate suicidality were primarily designed for the adult population, [12][13][14][15] and bear several limitations including false positives, poor predictive validity and inability to capture symptom change across time. 16 Therefore, risk assessment of suicidality among children and adolescents, both in research and clinical practice, remains a major clinical challenge and there is an urgent need to develop and evaluate instruments designed for children and adolescents that can comprehensively capture the bio-psycho-social mediators and risk factors for suicidality in this age group. The STOP programme (Suicidality: Treatment Occurring in Paediatrics; grant agreement number: 261411) was developed in response to a specific research call made under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), 'HEALTH.2010.4.2-3: Adverse drug reaction research' with an overarching aim to develop and validate a web-based protocol for the assessment and monitoring of suicidality and its mediators in children and adolescents.…”

“…While the assessment of suicidality in post-marketing surveillance of new medications has been highlighted as a critical component in the drug development process,11 the majority of the study instruments currently used to evaluate suicidality were primarily designed for the adult population,12–15 and bear several limitations including false positives, poor predictive validity and inability to capture symptom change across time 16. Therefore, risk assessment of suicidality among children and adolescents, both in research and clinical practice, remains a major clinical challenge and there is an urgent need to develop and evaluate instruments designed for children and adolescents that can comprehensively capture the bio-psycho-social mediators and risk factors for suicidality in this age group.…”