Routinized categorization of suicide risk into actionable strata: Establishing the validity of an existing suicide risk assessment framework in an outpatient sample.

OBJECTIVE: The Suicide Risk Assessment and Management Decision Tree (DT) is a clinician-administered assessment that leads to risk categorizations that correspond with actionable strata. This study investigated the construct validity and test-retest reliability of the DT risk categories across two time points. METHOD: Outpatients (N = 731) completed a battery of self-report measures. Spearman's correlations were used to examine the relationships between DT suicide risk level and suicidal symptoms, theory-based risk factors, psychiatric correlates, and DT suicide risk level at Timepoint 2. Correlations were analyzed for significant differences to examine the divergent validity of the DT. RESULTS: Results, overall, were in line with hypotheses, with the exception of depression and thwarted belongingness. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide evidence for the reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the DT. This clinician-administered suicide risk assessment may be useful for standardization of the assessment and management of suicide risk in outpatient clinical settings.