CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 92Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesMental Health via WritingDeath Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Assessment of self-harm risk using implicit thoughts

Randall, Jason R., Rowe, Brian H., Dong, Kathryn A., Nock, Matthew K., Colman, Ian·2013·Psychological Assessment
DOI 10.1037/a0032391
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Assessing for the risk of self-harm in acute care is a difficult task, and more information on pertinent risk factors is needed to inform clinical practice. This study examined the relationship of 6 forms of implicit cognition about death, suicide, and self-harm with the occurrence of self-harm in the future. We then attempted to develop a model using these measures of implicit cognition along with other psychometric tests and clinical risk factors. We conducted a prospective cohort of 107 patients (age > 17 years) with a baseline assessment that included 6 implicit association tests that assessed thoughts of death, suicide, and self-harm. Psychometric questionnaires were also completed by the patients, and these included the Beck Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974), Barratt impulsiveness scale (Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995), brief symptom inventory (Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983), CAGE questionnaire for alcoholism (Ewing, 1984), and the drug abuse screening test 10 (Skinner, 1982). Medical and demographic information was also obtained for patients as potential confounders or useful covariables. The outcome measure was the occurrence of self-harm within 3 months. Implicit associations with death versus life as a predictor added significantly (odds ratio = 5.1, 95% confidence interval [1.3, 20.3]) to a multivariable model. The model had 96.6% sensitivity and 53.9% specificity with a high cutoff, or 58.6% sensitivity and 96.2% specificity with a low cutoff. This scale shows promise for screening emergency department patients with mental health presentations who may be at risk for future self-harm or suicide.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/a0032391

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • This implicit association with death has been found to predict lifetime and future risk of suicide attempt as well as SI over the course of treatment.

    “This implicit association with death has been found to predict lifetime and future risk of suicide attempt (54, 55) as well as SI over the course of treatment (56).”

    From New methods for assessing rapid changes in suicide risk (2021) · cites this paper as [55]

Cites

Still being checked.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Randall, J. R., Rowe, B. H., Dong, K. A., Nock, M. K., & Colman, I.
Affiliations
  • University of Alberta (CA)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of Ottawa (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Assessment
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2013-09
Volume
25
Issue
3
Pages
714-721
ISSN
  • 1040-3590 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-134X
DOI
10.1037/a0032391
OpenAlex
W1978889810
Cited by
92
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 1
FWCI
9.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psychological Assessment (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • University of Alberta
  • Canada Research Chairs Program
  • Norlien Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Keywords
self-harm, suicide risk, implicit cognition, Implicit Association Test, death, suicide, risk assessment, emergency department patients, mental health screening, hopelessness, impulsivity, alcohol consumption, substance abuse
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Emergency Service, Hospital, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychological Tests, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Sensitivity and Specificity, Thinking, Self-Injurious Behavior, Risk Assessment, Young Adult, Suicidal Ideation

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review