![handle is hein.journals/legadclpy10 and id is 1 raw text is: f The
Legal and Criminological Psychology (2005), 10, 1-12 Psycholog ical
EfNSociety
© 2005 The British Psychological Society
www.bpsou rnals.co. u
Screening for suicide risk factors in prison
inmates: Evaluating the efficiency of the
Depression, Hopelessness and Suicide
Screening Form (DHS)
Jeremy F. Mills'* and Daryl G. Kroner2
'Bath Institution, Bath, Ontario and Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2Pittsburgh Institution, Pittsburgh, Ontario, Canada
The Depression, Hopelessness and Suicide Screening Form (DHS; Mills & Kroner, 2002)
is a recently developed self-report instrument to aid in screening inmates in the titled
areas. Research has shown the DHS to have good internal consistency, factor structure
and construct validity. The present study extends the previous validation research by
comparing the disclosure of suicide risk factors on the DHS with both interview-based
and file review information. In addition, the DHS scores were used to predict
psychological distress. The results indicate that despite the paper-and-pencil self-report
approach of the DHS it is comparably efficient in gathering suicide risk factors to other
methods. In addition, the predictive accuracy of the DHS in identifying inmates
experiencing psychological distress was confirmed. The current study has implications
for the method of collection of suicide screening information. The discussion centres
on the potential of self-report in screening for suicide and self-harm indicators in inmate
populations.
Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Global estimates for the year 2000
indicate that death by suicide exceeds both homicide and war-related deaths (Krug,
Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi, & Lozano, 2002). Suicide is a leading cause of death in prisons
both in the United States (Hayes, 1995) and in Canada (Burtch & Ericson, 1979). In both
countries a systematic suicide prevention programme is viewed as essential to reduce
suicide within correctional facilities (Correctional Service of Canada, 1992; Hayes,
1995). Hayes summarized the six critical components of a comprehensive suicide
prevention policy identified by the National Centre on Institutions and Alternatives as:
a suicide prevention policy, staff training, intake screening/assessment, housing, levels
of supervision, intervention and administrative review. The second of these
components, intake screening/assessment, requires both, (a) a knowledge of risk
factors, and (b) a reliable and systematic method of measuring those risk factors.
* Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Jeremy Mills, Psychology Department, Bath Institution, PO Box I 500, Bath,
Ontario, KOH IGO, Canada (e-mail: Mills]F@csc-scc.gc.ca).
DOI:10.1348/ I 35532504X 15295](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/legadclpy10&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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