Validity of short-term assessment of risk and treatability in the Japanese Forensic Probation Service

This study aimed to evaluate the predictive validity and reliability of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) in the context of the Japanese forensic probation service. START is a structured professional judgement guide for risk domains concerning negative behaviors such as violence, self-harm, suicide, substance abuse, unauthorized leave, victimization, and self-neglect. In this […]

Trajectory of suicide as a transformation in obscurity: As told by the deceased’s next of kin

There is a collective call from the field of suicide research for studies on the individual dynamics of suicidality in order to understand the deadliness of the suicidal process. This study examines the deceased next of kin’s (‘survivor’s) experience of the suicidal process in order to gain perspectives that can be used in the preventive […]

Universal suicide screening in emergency departments across a large healthcare system

Background: Suicidal ideation is a common complaint in Emergency Departments (EDs) across the United States (US) and is an important preventable cause of death. Consequently, current Joint Commission guidelines require screening high-risk patients and those with behavioral health needs for suicide. Accordingly, we implemented universal suicide screening for all patients presenting to EDs in our healthcare […]

Suicide risk assessments through the eyes of ChatGPT-3.5 versus Chat GPT-4: Vignette study

Background:ChatGPT, a linguistic artificial intelligence (AI) model engineered by OpenAI, offers prospective contributions to mental health professionals. Although having significant theoretical implications, ChatGPT’s practical capabilities, particularly regarding suicide prevention, have not yet been substantiated. Objective:The study’s aim was to evaluate ChatGPT’s ability to assess suicide risk, taking into consideration 2 discernable factors—perceived burdensomeness and thwarted […]

The effect of suicide severity and patient’s age on mental health professionals’ willingness to treat: The moderating effect of ageism

Understanding mental health professionals’ (MHPs) willingness to treat suicidal older adults is critical in preventative psychotherapy. We examined the effect of a hypothetical patient’s age and suicide severity on MHPs’ willingness to treat or refer them to another therapist. Vignettes of hypothetical patients were presented to 368 MHPs aged 24-72 years. The vignettes had two […]

Reconsidering false positives in machine learning binary classification models of suicidal behavior

We posit the hypothesis that False Positive cases (FP) in machine learning classification models of suicidal behavior are at risk of suicidal behavior and should not be seen as sheer classification error. We trained an XGBoost classification model using survey data from 173,663 Norwegian adolescents and compared the classification groups for several suicide-related mental health […]

Predicting suicidal ideation among Native American high schoolers in California

Suicide is the leading cause of non-accidental death for Native American young people ages 15-24 years old. Concerningly, suicide rates have continued to rise over the past decade despite a myriad of prevention efforts. This shortcoming has urged some scholars to (re)examine key theoretical constructs to better direct suicide prevention efforts in tribal communities. Using […]

One-week suicide risk prediction using real-time smartphone monitoring: Prospective cohort study

Background Suicide is a major global public health issue that is becoming increasingly common despite preventive efforts. Though current methods for predicting suicide risk are not sufficiently accurate, technological advances provide invaluable tools with which we may evolve toward a personalized, predictive approach. Objective We aim to predict the short-term (1-week) risk of suicide by […]

Improving youth suicide risk screening and assessment in a pediatric hospital setting by using the Joint Commission Guidelines

Objectives: Hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC) are now required to use a validated screening tool and a standardized method for assessment of suicide risk in all behavioral health patients. Our aims for this study were (1) to implement a TJC-compliant process of suicide risk screening and assessment in the pediatric emergency department (ED) and […]

Ecological momentary assessment and machine learning for predicting suicidal ideation among sexual and gender minority individuals

Importance  Suicidality poses a serious global health concern, particularly in the sexual and gender minority population. While various studies have focused on investigating chronic stressors, the precise prediction effect of daily experiences on suicide ideation remains uncertain. Objective  To test the extent to which mood fluctuations and contextual stressful events experienced by sexual and gender minority individuals […]

Ecological momentary assessments and passive sensing in the prediction of short-term suicidal ideation in young adults

Objective  To examine whether and what combinations of self-reported EMA and sensor-based assessments identify next-day suicidal ideation. Design, Setting, and Participants  In this intensive longitudinal prognostic study, participants completed EMAs 4 times daily and wore a sensor wristband (Fitbit Charge 3) for 8 weeks. Multilevel machine learning methods, including penalized generalized estimating equations and classification and regression […]

Managing suicidal risk: A collaborative approach. 3rd ed.

Now in an extensively revised third edition with 65% new material, this is the authoritative presentation of the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) therapeutic framework. CAMS provides proven tools to help clinicians of any orientation evaluate suicidal risk and develop a suicide-focused treatment plan. In addition to their clinical utility, the procedures used […]

Beyond human expertise: The promise and limitations of ChatGPT in suicide risk assessment

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI, holds the potential for contributing to the field of mental health. Nevertheless, although ChatGPT theoretically shows promise, its clinical abilities in suicide prevention, a significant mental health concern, have yet to be demonstrated. To address this knowledge gap, this study aims to compare ChatGPT’s assessments of […]

The association of pediatric emergency medicine physicians’ self-identified skills in suicide risk assessment and management with training in mental health

Objective: Because changes to pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) education may help address barriers to youth suicide risk screening programs, this study aimed to understand the impact of formal training in areas that likely include suicide-related practices, developmental-behavioral pediatrics (DBP) and adolescent medicine (AM), on PEM physician-perceived level of training, attitudes, and confidence assessing and managing youth […]

Suicide risk assessments: A scientific and ethical critique

There are widely held premises that suicide is almost exclusively the result of mental illness and there is “strong evidence for successfully detecting and managing suicidality in healthcare” (Hogan and Grumet, 2016). In this context, ‘zero-suicide’ policies have emerged, and suicide risk assessment tools have become a normative component of psychiatric practice. This essay discusses […]

Prevalence and predictors of suicidality among adults initiating office-based buprenorphine

Background: Individuals who have substance use disorders may have an elevated risk of suicidality. This study sought to examine the prevalence of, and identify factors associated with, suicidality in adults with opioid use disorder (OUD) initiating office-based buprenorphine treatment. Methods: Individuals were eligible to participate if they had OUD and had initiated treatment in the […]

Eyes fixed on heaven’s gate: An empirical examination of blink rate and suicide

Anecdotal and theoretical work suggests blink rate as an indicator of imminent suicide risk. We sought to empirically examine whether suicide decedents displayed a reduced blink rate in goodbye videos filmed before death, compared to several control groups. Independent raters coded blink rates from videos of 34 suicide decedents and four comparison groups: “mundane” product […]

A review of machine & deep learning techniques in detecting suicidal tendency

In recent years, the number of deaths due to suicide has increased. Suicide is becoming one of the major causes of death across the whole world. Early detection and prevention of suicide attempts should be addressed to save people’s life. Thus, several studies  found that people who are contemplating suicide can be identified by analyzing […]

The validity of a brief risk assessment tool for predicting suicidal behavior in veterans utilizing VHA mental health care

Suicide risk among military veterans is an important and ongoing concern. The Veterans Administration (VA) mandates suicide risk screening of all veterans seen for mental health issues, but little is known about the effectiveness of this screening. A retrospective chart review to examine all suicide risk screens at VA San Diego between October and December […]

Self-adapted utterance selection for suicidal ideation detection in Lifeline conversations (IN Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EACL 2023, edited by A. Vlachos & I. Augenstein)

This paper investigates a crucial aspect of mental health by exploring the detection of suicidal ideation in spoken phone conversations between callers and counselors at a suicide prevention hotline.These conversations can be lengthy, noisy, and cover a broad range of topics, making it challenging for NLP models to accurately identify the caller’s suicidal ideation. To […]

Should suicide risk assessment be embedded in undergraduate dental curricula?

Aims and objectives The aim of this Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle was to establish if undergraduate students believe they have a role to play in suicide risk assessment, and to discuss the implementation of suicide risk prevention into the undergraduate dental curriculum. Data gathered informed development of a subsequent suicide risk assessment educational workshop. Methodology An online questionnaire was […]

The use of advanced technology and statistical methods to predict and prevent suicide

In the past decade, two themes have emerged across suicide research. First, according to meta-analyses, the ability to predict and prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviours is weaker than would be expected for the size of the field. Second, review and commentary papers propose that technological and statistical methods (such as smartphones, wearables, digital phenotyping and […]

Target-based fusion using social determinants of health to enhance suicide prediction with electronic health records

Objective Preventing suicide in US youth is of paramount concern, with rates increasing over 50% between 2007 and 2018. Statistical modeling using electronic health records may help identify at-risk youth before a suicide attempt. While electronic health records contain diagnostic information, which are known risk factors, they generally lack or poorly document social determinants (e.g., […]