Validation of a 9-item Perceived Suicide Awareness Scale (PSAS-9) for adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Robust empirical data on suicide awareness are needed, to better plan and evaluate suicide prevention interventions. However, there is a lack of validated measures of suicide awareness. This is especially true for perceived suicide awareness, which focuses on perceived knowledge about suicide, willingness, and confidence to talk about suicide and get help. Using the theoretical framework of Social Cognitive Theory, this study aimed to validate a measure of perceived suicide awareness. METHODS: We re-used data from a suicide prevention trial conducted in Swiss secondary schools (n = 366). Baseline and one-month follow-up data were used to validate the scale. The main measure was an initial 14-item Perceived Suicide Awareness Scale (PSAS). Perceived knowledge of help-seeking resources, suicide-related knowledge, and support networks were used to assess convergent validity. RESULTS: A nine-item version, the PSAS-9, showed satisfactory psychometric properties, including high internal consistency (α = 0.78), acceptable test-retest (r = 0.68), and a one-factor structure explaining 95 % of the variance. The convergent validity was acceptable (0.19 ≤ r ≤ 0.40). The PSAS-9 was not correlated with suicide-related knowledge (r = 0.02). LIMITATIONS: The study missed a similar construct to properly assess convergent validity and had a modest sample size. In addition, it only included secondary school adolescents, so further research in other samples of youths is needed to robustly validate the PSAS-9. CONCLUSIONS: This study was an important step towards validating a perceived suicide awareness scale, which appears as a new dimension of suicidality, distinct from suicide-related knowledge. The PSAS-9 could be used to develop, evaluate, and improve suicide prevention efforts.

Suicide awareness homophily in adolescent peer support networks: A Swiss cross-sectional social network analysis.

Objective: Suicide awareness, encompassing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to suicide, plays a critical role in primary suicide prevention, especially among adolescents. However, little is known about how perceived suicide awareness is apparent in peer support networks in this population. This study examined the presence of suicide awareness homophily in adolescent peer support networks. We also explored other patterns of homophily and identified factors associated with the in-degree popularity of adolescents. Methods: We used baseline data from a non-randomized, cluster-controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of a universal suicide prevention intervention in Swiss secondary schools (n = 194). We assessed perceived suicide awareness, support networks (including in-degree popularity, i.e., receiving a high number of nominations as a supportive peer), and other covariates. Data were analyzed using social network analyses. Results: We found evidence of suicide awareness homophily in peer support networks, where adolescents with high suicide awareness were more likely to connect with peers having high suicide awareness (p < .001). The same applied to those with low suicide awareness (p < .001). Age also emerged as a significant homophily factor. Girls (p = .024) and adolescents with high instrumental social support (p = .008) were more likely to be popular in peer support networks. Conclusions: This study highlighted the homophily of suicide awareness in peer support networks and the need to focus on strengthening peer support networks and promoting suicide awareness in adolescents, particularly for those with low suicide awareness. Future suicide prevention programs, including peer-led interventions, should consider these findings to better target vulnerable subgroups and reduce suicide-related disparities.

Evaluation of A Suicide Prevention Program in Switzerland: Protocol of A Cluster Non-Randomized Controlled Trial.

Suicide is a major public health concern, which disproportionally affects young people. Therefore, effective prevention strategies are needed, but there is a dearth of controlled trials on this topic. Our study will evaluate the effectiveness of a suicide prevention program in Switzerland, where data are scarce. It will test whether the prevention program (1) increases knowledge of suicide and awareness of suicidal risks, (2) provides resources to seek/offer help, (3) increases communication skills related to suicide, (4) increases coping skills, (5) is acceptable, and (6) reduces suicidal ideation and psychological distress. The project will be a single-center cluster non-randomized controlled trial designed to compare an intervention group benefitting from the suicide prevention program with a control group. The potential benefits include a better understanding and evaluation of suicide prevention programs, which may lead to improved primary and secondary prevention practices.

Comorbidity of Symptoms of Alcohol and Cannabis Use Disorders among a Population-Based Sample of Simultaneous Users. Insight from a Network Perspective.

Research into comorbidity of alcohol and cannabis use disorders has resulted in inconsistent findings, especially among simultaneous users, who used alcohol and cannabis together on a single occasion. This study investigated the association of alcohol and cannabis use disorders among simultaneous users using a network perspective, which considers direct relationships between symptoms. We used a subset of simultaneous alcohol and cannabis users driven from the representative population-based sample of young Swiss men cohort study on substance use risk factors (C-SURF) (n = 1559 at baseline and n = 991 at follow-up). Self-reported symptoms of alcohol and cannabis use disorders were collected. Network analyses included network estimation, visualization, and community detection tests. Alcohol and cannabis use symptoms were separated in two distinct clusters, with few paths between them (eleven positive edges at baseline, three at follow-up). Withdrawal symptoms were likely to connect the two disorders at baseline, but not at follow-up. Alcohol and cannabis use disorders appeared as separate disorders among simultaneous users. Our findings mitigated previous findings on the detrimental association between alcohol and cannabis use. Future studies should incorporate network analyses as a means to study comorbidity in other community and clinical samples to confirm our preliminary findings.

Family beyond parents? An exploration of family configurations and psychological adjustment in young adults with intellectual disabilities.

This research explores the family configurations of young adults with intellectual disability. Based on a sample of 40 individuals interviewed two times in a year, we found as many as four types of family configurations, with distinct compositions, and different types of social capital. This diversity is not without consequences for individual psychological adjustment. The results are discussed in the light of the configurational approach to families.

Pluralized life courses? An exploration of the life trajectories of individuals with psychiatric disorders.

BACKGROUND: Most of the existing research relating to the life courses of people with psychiatric symptoms focuses on the occurrence and the impact of non-normative events on the onsets of crises; it usually disregards the more regular dimensions of life, such as work, family and intimate partnerships that may be related to the timing and seriousness of psychiatric problems. An additional reason for empirically addressing life trajectories of individuals with psychiatric problems relates to recent changes of family and occupational trajectories in relation to societal trends such as individualization and pluralization of life courses. AIM: This paper explores the life trajectories of 86 individuals under clinical supervision and proposes a typology of their occupational, co-residence and intimacy trajectories. The results are discussed in light of the life-course paradigm. METHOD: A multidimensional optimal matching analysis was performed on a sample of 86 individuals under clinical supervision to create a typology of trajectories. The influence of these trajectories on psychiatric disorders, evaluated using a SCL-90-R questionnaire, was then assessed using linear regression modelling. RESULTS: The typologies of trajectories showed that the patients developed a diversity of life trajectories. Individuals who have developed a standard life course with few institutionalization periods reported more symptoms and distress than individuals with an institutionalized life trajectory. CONCLUSION: The results of this study stress that psychiatric patients are social actors who are influenced by society at large and its ongoing process of change. Therefore, it is essential to take into account the diversity of occupational and family trajectories when dealing with individuals in therapeutic settings.