Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Reasons for Living-Older Adults Scale: a Suicide Risk Assessment Inventory

This article presents data from two studies on the development & initial evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Reasons for Living Scale-Older Adult version. Study 1 involved instrument development with 106 community-dwelling olders adults, & initial psychometric evaluation with a second sample of 119 community-dwelling older adults. Study 2 evaluated the scale in a clinical sample of 181 mental health patients, age 50 & older. Strong psychometric properties were demonstrated with high internal consistency. Convergent validity was evidence by negative associations among Scale scores & measures of depression & suicide ideation. Findings support the potential value of attending to reasons for living during clinical treatment with depressed older adults & others at risk for suicide. (39 refs.) JA

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