Pilot study: feasibility of using the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) during acute suicidal crisis.
BACKGROUND
Assessing youths in acute suicidal crisis is a common jet pivotal task in child and adolescent psychiatry, usually relying primarily on the clinicians skills of assessment. The objective of this pilot-study was to evaluate feasibility and usefulness of questionnaires during assessment of youths in acute suicidal crisis.


METHODS
31 adolescents, presenting for suicide assessment, and their caregivers, were asked upon emergency presentation to fill in the Suicidal-Ideation-Questionnaire (SIQ) and the Youth Life Status Questionnaire (Y-LSQ) before receiving an assessment by a clinician. The SIQ has 30 items, 8 of which are defined as critical items able to predict suicidality with the highest probability. The Y-LSQ (30 items) measures the overall level of psychological distress. It has one suicidal item, which was used in this study for validation of the SIQ result. Clinical judgment and test results were collected and analyzed by an independent researcher.


RESULTS
It was feasible to ask adolescents in acute suicidal crisis to fill in a questionnaire. Clinical assessment of suicidality did not correlate significantly with the overall SIQ-score (p = 0.089), however there was a significant correlation between the SIQ 8 critical item result and clinical judgement of suicidality (p = 0.050).


CONCLUSIONS
The 8 critical SIQ items can be used to support clinical judgment of suicidality in acute crisis.
ZfP Südwürttemberg, Abteilung für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Weingartshoferstrasse 2, 88214 Ravensburg, Germany ; Universität Ulm, Klinik für Kinder und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Ulm, Germany.
Isabel
I
Boege
ZfP Südwürttemberg, Abteilung für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Weingartshoferstrasse 2, 88214 Ravensburg, Germany.
Nicole
N
Corpus
ZfP Südwürttemberg, Abteilung für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie des Kindes- und Jugendalters, Weingartshoferstrasse 2, 88214 Ravensburg, Germany.
Renate
R
Schepker
Universität Ulm, Klinik für Kinder und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Ulm, Germany.
Joerg M
JM
Fegert
Suicidal ideation; Suicidal ideation questionnaire; Suicidality; Suicide risk assessment; Youth-life status questionnaire