Citation

Violanti JM, Mnatsakanova A, Andrew ME. Suicidol. Online 2013; 4: 33-41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, The author(s), Publisher Medical University of Vienna, Department of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Police officers are at an increased risk for suicide. Hesitancy by this high risk population to seek help makes it essential to detect suicide ideation on a different level than self-reports. This pilot study was an effort to explore the potential for an additional measure, the suicide Implicit Association Test (IAT), to detect suicidal ideation in police officers. The IAT measures levels of identification with life or death. In terms of self-reported suicide ideation, none was reported by officers.

RESULTS from the IAT measure suggested that officers had differing levels of identification with life: slight (18.5%), moderate (32.3%), and strong (29.2%). 14% were neutral in their identification with life, and 6% identified with death. Self-reported suicide ideation, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) did not significantly correlate with IAT scores, suggesting that the IAT is distinct from self-report tools, measuring attitudes toward life and death below the conscious level. More research is needed to help clarify the operational usefulness of IAT methods and their validity over time.

Copyrights belong to the Author(s). Suicidology Online (SOL) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal publishing under the Creative Commons License 3.0.

Language: en