title: Development of a suicide screening instrument for use in a remand centre setting.
abstract: In penal settings it is important to be able to quickly discriminate which kinds of self-destructive behaviours carry a larger suicide potential and which inmates present a greater suicide risk. This paper is a preliminary report of the first phase of a suicide research project conducted at the Calgary Remand Centre, Calgary, Alberta which has entailed the development of a tool for screening potentially suicidal inmates. The Suicide Checklist was designed for use by the nursing staff of the Centre to provide a screening process which would be: (a) reliable; (b) valid (within the broad constraints and difficulties inherent in any attempt to predict dangerousness to self); (c) standardized; (d) quick and feasible to implement; and (e) a combination of clinical and past history variables. This paper identifies some of the issues which have surrounded the development of this tool and presents findings from an initial reliability study.
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Alberta.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arboleda-Florez
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Holley
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D011330:Prisons; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology; D000092864:Suicide Prevention