Purpose:                             Screen for suicidal ideation in adolescents

Age range:                         12 to 18 years

Admin:                               Individual or group

Admin time:                        10 minutes or less

Scoring time:                      10 minutes

 

The SIQ assesses the frequency of suicidal thoughts in adolescents and may be used to evaluate or monitor troubled youths. Because not all depressed adolescents are suicidal and not all suicidal adolescents are depressed, the SIQ is a valuable component in a comprehensive assessment of adolescent mental health.

The SIQ assesses the frequency of suicidal ideation and serves as a valuable component in a comprehensive assessment of adolescent mental health.

Serves as a starting point for gathering information about your client’s suicide potential

• The SIQ consists of 30 items and is appropriate for students in Grades 10-12 (SIQ).

• The SIQ-JR consists of 15 items and is designed for students in Grades 7-9 (SIQ-JR).

• Items rated on a 7-point scale.

• Hand scorable for individual or small group administration.

• Use to evaluate large-scale intervention/prevention programs.

• Reliability coefficients are .97 for the SIQ and .93-.94 for the SIQ-JR.

• Validity consistently supported in many published content, construct, and clinical studies.

For many adolescents, the SIQ and the SIQ-JR provide a mechanism for informing adults/professionals of their level of distress and suicidal intent, serving as a cry for help that doesn’t involve self-injurious behavior. Adolescents who are thinking about suicide may respond to these measures with the expectation that, in telling others of their suicidal thoughts, people will take notice of their distress and act to assist them. It is therefore vital that professionals act quickly once critical SIQ or SIQ-JR scores are obtained.