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The duty to protect a client identified as “suicidal” has been clearly established in the mental health literature. We propose that (a) the duty to protect should apply whenever a client is engaging in a behavior that may lead to serious self-harm or death within a reasonably short period of time and (b) the best method of meeting the duty to protect is to assess for impaired judgment and then fashion appropriate interventions depending on the result of this evaluation. If implemented, this proposal has significant implications for conduct when working with clients making end-of-life decisions: a mental health professional would have an initial duty to protect, through conducting a thorough assessment, with every individual who is making a decision that may affect the manner and timing of death and this duty would be in effect until a determination is made that the person's judgment is not impaired. This would eliminate basing the determination of whether a client's behavior engenders the duty to protect on the counselor's perception of the intent and motivation of the client or the counselor's values, while also providing a mechanism by which people can follow through with end-of-life decisions. Guidelines for the determination of whether the duty applies and an outline of an assessment protocol are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide is a recognized national health risk in many countries. In order to effectively intervene in suicidal crises, it is important for mental health professionals to understand facts about suicidal behaviour, procedures for assessing an individual's risk of self-harm, and the evaluation of the lethality of a client's suicidal gestures. With updated knowledge and proper training, counselling psychologists can play a vital role in suicide prevention. This paper summarizes for counselling psychologists current statistics about suicide, general and specific risk factors for suicidality, and assessment tools used to evaluate suicidal risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the research on the relationship between a reported history of sexual abuse and subsequent suicidal behavior. Based on this review, it is suggested that a conclusion that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant risk factor for subsequent suicidal ideation, attempts, and completed suicides is premature. Identified limitations of the existing research include the lack of consistency in definitions of CSA and suicidality, issues related to sample selection and causality interpretations, and the absence of theoretical grounding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of ethical and practice guidelines related to mental health service on the Internet has lagged behind the movement of practitioners into this area. Even for clinicians who are not offering services on the Web, the Internet has led to confusion and concern about proper roles and responsibilities. This article discusses an actual experience we had with a self-described rationally suicidal man with multiple sclerosis (MS). After presenting some background on MS, we report initial interactions with the man verbatim and summarize subsequent correspondence in an analysis of the man's claim that his decision to die was well reasoned and that he should be allowed a physician's assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-validates Glenn E. Good and his colleagues' 1995 report on the results of their confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of two separate samples of data on the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS). Hypothesized intercorrelated four-factor measurement model for the GRCS; Good and colleagues' CFA strategy; Internal consistency; Exploratory factor analysis.

Investigates the psychometric integrity of the College Student Reasons for Living Inventory (Westefeld, Cardin and Deaton, 1992) which addressed the issue of college student suicidality. Confirmatory factor analysis; Exploratory factor analysis; Contrasted group analyses.