NCJ Number
209682
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2005 Pages: 1-12
Date Published
February 2005
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the veracity of inmate self-report and the predictive validity of the Depression, Hopelessness and Suicide Screening Form (DHS).
Abstract
Suicide prevention efforts are a crucial element of prison programming and screening inmates for suicide risk factors is an important component of these efforts. The DHS is a new self-report instrument that screens inmates in the areas of depression, hopelessness, and suicide risk and has been shown to have good internal consistency, factor structure, and construct validity. The current study extends previous testing on the DHS by comparing the disclosure of suicide risk factors collected through self-report on the DHS with those collected during personal interviews and through a file review. The study also assessed the predictive validity of the DHS in predicting generalized psychological distress among inmates. Participants were a sample of 131 inmates of a medium-security prison who completed the DHS within 2 days of their arrival in prison and another sample of 101 inmates of a medium-security prison who completed the DHA during a psychological risk assessment. Results of statistical analyses indicated that the DHS is efficient in gathering self-report disclosures of suicide risk factors as compared to the other methods and demonstrates predictive accuracy in identifying inmates with generalized psychological distress. Future research should focus on integrating static and process variables to increase the predictive accuracy of assessment instruments. Tables, references