Development of the Risk Assessment Suicidality Scale (RASS): a population-based study.
BACKGROUND
Suicide and suicide attempts are significant and costly public health problems. In order to prevent suicidal and other self-injurious behaviors, research on the multiple factors involved in these behaviors with comprehensive and user-friendly instruments is necessary. The aim of the current study was to construct a self-report instrument with emphasis on items describing suicide-related behavior itself rather than strongly related clinical features on the basis of a general population study.


METHODS
Twelve items comprising a new scale were applied to 734 subjects from the general population (40.6% males and 59.4% females) aged 40.8±11.5 along with the STAI and the CES-D.


RESULTS
The scoring method was developed on the basis of frequency table of responses to the individual scale items. The factor analysis returned 3 factors explaining 59.19% of total variance (Intention, Life, and History). The Cronbach's alpha was 0.85 for the Intention, 0.69 for the Life and 0.52 for the History subscale.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings need replication in clinical and epidemiologic studies.


CONCLUSIONS
The RASS is a reliable and valid instrument which might prove valuable in the assessment of suicidal risk in the general population as well as in mental patients.
3rd department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. kfount@med.auth.gr
Konstantinos N
KN
Fountoulakis
Eleonora
E
Pantoula
Melina
M
Siamouli
Katerina
K
Moutou
Xenia
X
Gonda
Zoltan
Z
Rihmer
Apostolos
A
Iacovides
Hagop
H
Akiskal
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D000092864:Suicide Prevention