Developing a Suicide Screening Instrument for Adolescents and Young Adults (IN: Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide. Volume 4: Strategies for the Prevention of Youth Suicide)

The major task of this paper is to develop a sensitive screening instrument for identifying youth at high risk of suicide. The author suggests requirements & uses of such a screening device. He also reviews the current literature on screening devices for adults & youths. In addition, he presents a Suicide Screening Checklist (SSC) & an abbreviated version of the manual for use & screening the SSC. He notes that the SCC needs to be field-tested for its sensitivity & specificity. (CM)