Clinical utility of depression measures and symptoms: Implications for suicide risk assessment in high risk, resource limited youth populations

Objective Suicide risk for youth in resource- limited settings has been largely underrepresented in the literature and requires targeted examination of practical ways to address this growing public health concern. The present study focuses on the clinical utility of depression risk assessment tools addressing how and for whom suicide prevention intervention is most beneficial within a low-middle-income-country, high suicide risk youth sample. Methods Youth who reported a previous suicide attempt versus those who did not were criterion to test the validity of depression and hopelessness symptom assessment tools. We used item analyses to identify depressive symptom endorsements that most informed youth suicide risk, which will better equip rural practitioners for targeted intervention and monitoring of youth with an already high risk for suicide. Results Findings demonstrated that practitioners may target symptoms of social anhedonia, depressed mood, concentration disturbance, feelings of worthlessness, sleep disturbance, and fatigue for suicide prevention-intervention efforts among high-risk youth. Conclusions Study implications are for clinicians' use of the BDI-II and CES-D for depression symptom identification and suicide risk monitoring in settings with limited mental health infrastructure.