Suicide Probability Scale (SPS)

1
Suicide Probability Scale (SPS)

• Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC)

2
Presenters

• Lisa Compton
• Vivette Henry
• Sherie Malcom
• Cheri Meder

3
SPS

• Composed of 36 self-report question stems
• Four clinical subscales Hopelessness, Suicidal
  Ideation, Negative Self-evaluation, and Hostility
• Designed to assess suicidal risk
• Used with adults and adolescents age 14 and older
• May be used in clinical and non-clinical settings

4
SPS Strengths

• Quick, easy to administer (5-10 minutes).
• Cost-effective.
• Research indicates that the SPS was significantly
  associated with changes in suicidality among
  outpatients who were at a high suicide risk

5
SPS Weaknesses

• There are relatively few studies that provide
  data regarding the predictive validity of the
  instrument
• Diverse populations need to be researched in
  regard to effectiveness within varied settings

6
Case Study

• Sarah is a 15 year old female who has been
  hospitalized for depression and malnutrition.
  Through your clinical evaluation, you suspect a
  partial diagnosis of Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a
  DSM-IV somatoform disorder which is characterized
  by a distressing or impairing preoccupation with
  an imagined or slight defect in appearance. You
  suspect that given the supposed diagnosis, there
  could also be trauma-related symptoms as well as
  suicidality. Do you believe that it would be
  appropriate to administer the SPS and/or the TSC
  as part of your diagnostic battery of tests in
  this case? Why or why not?

7
TSC-40

• Designed to assess trauma symptomatology in
  adults
• Composed of 40 self-report questions
• Carries 6 sub-scales Anxiety, Depression,
  Dissociation,
• Sexual Abuse Trauma Index (SATI), Sexual
  Problems, and Sleep Disturbance
• Used with clinical and non-clinical populations
• Primarily designed as research tool

8
TSC-40Strengths

• Psychometrically sound when used within its scope
  for trauma symptoms
• Compares well with other measures that assess
  similar constructs
• Free of cost and readily accessible
• Quick (can be completed and scored in 10-15
  minutes) and uses relatively simple language

9
TSC-40Weaknesses

• Lacks external validity beyond norm group
• Limited in its assessment of trauma
  symptomatology since it does not measure the full
  range of PTSD criteria
• Results are based on self-reports, making
  reporting bias a possibility

10
TSC-40 Case Study

• Marsha, a 32 year-old business executive, was
  brutally attacked and gang-raped 6 months ago,
  and over the last 2 months has been experiencing
  increased trauma symptoms including flashbacks,
  sleep disturbances, problems in her sexual
  relationship, bad dreams, uncontrollable crying,
  and fear of men. As a result, she has come in to
  see you as an expert in dealing with such cases.
  Using the TSC, and bearing in mind its strengths
  and limitations, what do you think the best
  approach to effective assessment of trauma would
  look like? Please support all instruments chosen
  for assessment.

11
Assignment

• Please find a voice board available in
  Blackboard for this assignment.
• Please respond to the questions at the end of
  each of the two case studies and share your
  clinical opinion with us. Feel free to put both
  responses in one voice post.