|
Abstract
|
Suicide is a fate of a complex interplay among multiple factors namely genetics, environment, psychology, psychiatric disorders, and social effect (1, 2). In contrast to other public health issues, the death and sufferings due to suicidal behavior have not declined in recent decades. One of the primary obstacles in suicide prevention is the unavailability of reliable measurements. Till to date, precise estimation of risk factors is a daunting task for the clinicians as well as the academicians (3). Psychometric instruments have been developed, and cross-cultural validation of these measurements has been recommended as a way out. This Research Topic aims to accumulate research findings assessing suicidal behaviors in general, with a particular focus on development and validation of psychometric tools measuring suicidal behaviors.
Three studies looked at different suicide-related scales in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In one study, Arafat et al. tested the psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ-15) and Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale-Fearlessness About Death (ACSS-FAD) among 1,207 medical and university students. Both scales revealed acceptable levels of reliability. A two-factor structure of INQ was found by confirmatory factor analysis after removing three items from thwarted belongingness domain and a single-factor structure for ACSS-FAD after removing the same number of items. The validation of the INQ and ACSS-FAD enables their utilization in future studies in Bangla, facilitating the exploration of suicide risk factors and the formulation of effective prevention approaches to reduce the risk of suicide among medical college and university students in Bangladesh. van Bentum et al. introduced a new instrument Suicidal Intrusions Attributes Scale (SINAS) to measure the severity and pattern of suicidal intrusions and assessed its psychometric properties. The study included 168 individuals with depression and suicidal behavior from outpatient mental health services in the Netherlands. In addition to the 10-item SINAS, authors also used the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS), the Prospective Imagery Task (PIT), 4 items of the Suicidal Cognitions Interview (SCI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). The study demonstrated good rliability (Cronbach's α = 0.91) and convergent validity. Only one dimension was extracted by confirmatory factor analysis. The authors concluded that the instrument may be utilized for screening purpose in both research and clinical settings. In their brief report, Rafati et al. performed the validation of the Persian version of the Predicaments Questionnaire (PQ), which measures social attitudes toward suicide, among 151 students. The study revealed acceptable content and face validities of Persian PQ. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed one dimension. Also, it showed high reliability in several parameters (Cronbach's alpha 0.94, McDonald's Omega 0.94, and Intra-class Correlation Coefficient 0.99)...
Language: en |