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This study documents the initial reliability and validity of the Child Suicide Risk Assessment (CSRA) for children under the age of 13. The revised CSRA retained 18 of 20 original items based on item-specific psychometric data from 140 pre-adolescents in out-of-home treatment programs. The CSRA demonstrated adequate internal consistency (alpha=.69) for a multi-dimensional scale (3 factors: Worsening Depression, Lack of Support, and Death as Escape). CSRA scores correlated significantly with criterion measures of prior suicide attempts and ideations. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve discriminated significantly between prior attempters and non-attempters and was used to select preliminary CSRA cut-off scores for identifying substantial suicide risk. The CSRA is the first screening measure of suicide risk in pre-adolescents validated by associations with suicide attempts as well as ideations.

This study evaluated the Boys Town In-Home Family Services model with families referred by child welfare for issues related to maltreatment. Participants were 135 parents (mean age = 32.15 years,SD = 9.13) who completed intake and discharge assessments. The target child ranged in age from one month to 17 years (M = 4.54,SD = 4.38). We had a high-risk sample (e.g., 57% and 41% of parents reported being victims of physical and sexual abuse, respectively; 24% of parents reported attempting suicide in their lifetimes). The intervention was implemented with a degree of fidelity consistent with model standards. Reduced levels of perceived stressors were found for several domains of functioning with the largest effects observed for family safety, parental capabilities, and environmental factors. Results serve as an important step in building the evidence base of a widely disseminated intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]