Development and Validation of the Psychological Closeness to Suicide Methods Scale

What is it about?

Psychological closeness refers to the mental/emotional attachments that a person may have to their preferred suicide methods. This article presents the development and validation of a self-report instrument designed to assess facets of psychological closeness to preferred suicide methods, the Psychological Closeness to Suicide Methods Scale (PCSMS), in two samples of adults with current suicidal ideation and/or a lifetime suicide attempts.

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Photo by ODISSEI on Unsplash

Photo by ODISSEI on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is the first article to provide a validated measurement tool to assess a novel construct, psychological closeness to preferred suicide methods. Preliminary work found large effects between this construct and increases in suicidal ideation and intent; however, those early studies relied on single-item measures.

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