Citation

Shelef L, Klomek AB, Fruchter E, Kedem R, Mann JJ, Zalsman G. Eur. Psychiatry 2019; 61: 49-55.

Affiliation

Division of Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York City, USA; Geha Mental Health Center of the Clalit HMO, Petah Tiqwa, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: zalsman@tauex.teu.ac.il.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2019.06.005

PMID

31288210

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of suicidal behavior prevention measures in the military. The association of three widely used tools with severe suicide attempts was assessed in this setting.

METHODS: Thirty-nine Israeli soldiers (59% males), mean age 19 yrs., who attempted suicide during military service were divided into two groups: severe (n = 14; 35.9%) and moderate suicide attempts, and were assessed using the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI), Suicide Intent Scale (SIS) and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS).

RESULTS: Seven items from the SSI (p = 0.008), two items from SIS and one item from C-SSRS were associated with severe suicide attempts. Kendall's tau-b correlation with bootstrap demonstrated stability of these correlations.

CONCLUSION: Greater severity of suicidal ideation was associated with more severe suicide attempts. The combination of male gender, available firearms and current severe suicide ideation is high-risk danger sign in a military setting, even when reported intent to die is low.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Intent; Military; Risk assessment; Suicidal ideation; Suicide attempted