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Suicide Screening Assessment Tools

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Effect of Suicide Screening Assessment Tools in Determining Suicide Risk in Adolescents

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States with the incidence continuing to rise. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association are among the top organizations that recommend routine screening of adolescents for suicidal thoughts, depression and other risk factors associated with suicide. While screening tools for suicidal ideation, have become available, they are not widely utilized. This integrative review of ten quantitative research articles, examines the value of such tools for evidence-based practice, in the identification of adolescents at risk. This review considered …show more content…

(2013), is a retrospective cohort case study that took place in a children’s ED in Washington DC. The associations between screening positive for suicide risk and immediate psychiatric hospitalization or subsequent ED visits within one year, using the RSQ as compared to the SIQ and SIQ-JR. (Ballard et al., 2013).
A convenience sample of 568 patients aged 8–18 years, presenting with psychiatric complaints over a 9 month period to a single urban tertiary care pediatric ED were considered. Final sample size was 442 with mean age of 14, 56% male, 91% African American. There were negligible differences for other demographic data. The number of ED visits by each participant over the year after the baseline visit were obtained from the electronic records, with presenting complaints being psychiatric or non psychiatric in nature (Ballard, et al., 2013).
Univariate regression testing was used for data analysis and positive responses to suicide screening questions were associated with acute hospitalization and repeat ED visits. The RSQ is a valid screening tool and the research found that a 36% of participants were hospitalized as a result of the positive screenings and 29% had one or more ED visits within the following year (Ballard, et al., …show more content…

In fact, these assessment tools are very brief and do not add significant amounts of time to any patient visit (Diamond et al., 2012; Folse et al., 2006).
It has also been stated in the research that parents may not be willing to allow screening for their child due to their age or the belief that the subject of suicide may somehow encourage high risk behavior. There is in fact evidence to the contrary; most parents approached, agreed to the interviews and patients were both willing and forthcoming about their suicidal thoughts and past suicidal behaviors with no evidence of increased ideation as a result of the screening (Diamond et al., 2012; Folse et al., 2006; Horowitz et al., 2010).
RESULTS
Routine use of suicide assessment tools shows compelling evidence of validity for the determination of adolescents at elevated risk for suicide that perhaps would not have been otherwise identified. Using these standardized measures provides important data to assist in treatment recommendations for suicidal patients and guide suicide prevention efforts (Ballard, et al., 2013; Bevans et al., 2013; Folse et al., 2006; Gipson et al., 2015; Horowitz et al., 2010; King et al., 2015; King et al., 2009; Posner et al., 2011; Renaud et al.,

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