Beck Hopelessness Scale: Exploring its Dimensionality in Patients with Schizophrenia (original) (raw)

Hopelessness as a Predictor of Attempted Suicide among First Admission Patients with Psychosis: A 10-year Cohort Study

Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2012

Little is known about the longitudinal relationship of hopelessness to attempted suicide in psychotic disorders. The present study addresses this gap by assessing hopelessness and attempted suicide at multiple time-points over 10-years in a first-admission cohort with psychosis (n=414). Approximately 1 in 5 participants attempted suicide during the 10-year follow-up, and those who attempted suicide scored significantly higher at baseline on the Beck Hopelessness Scale. In general, a given assessment of hopelessness (i.e., baseline, 6-months, 24-months, and 48-months) reliably predicted attempted suicide up to 4-6 years later, but not beyond. Structural equation modeling indicated that hopelessness prospectively predicted attempted suicide even when controlling for previous attempts. Notably, a cut-point of 3 or greater on the Beck Hopelessness Scale yielded sensitivity and specificity values similar to those found in non-psychotic populations using a cut-point of 9. Results suggest that hopelessness in individuals with psychotic disorders confers information about suicide risk above and beyond history of attempted suicide. Moreover, in comparison to non-psychotic populations, even relatively modest levels of hopelessness appear to confer risk for suicide in psychotic disorders.

Suicidal Ideation in Patients with Schizophrenia

Objective: To evaluate the factors affecting suicidal ideas in patients with schizophrenia in terms of some socio-demographic and clinical properties. Method: The sample of the study consisted of 120 patients with schizophrenia selected from among patients receiving treatment at Trabzon Atakoy Psychiatry Hospital. All patients were evaluated using a Socio-demographic Data Collection Form, Reasons for Living Inventory (RLI), Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS), Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (PANSS), and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). Results: Of the patients, 31.6% had suicide ideation. Negative symptoms are found to be significantly higher. The group with suicidal ideation had fewer reasons for living than the group without. Conclusion: Evaluations of the history of suicide attempts, depression and hopelessness in patients with schizophrenia are thought to be important in the prevention of suicidal behavior in these patients.

Psychometric properties of the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS) in a longitudinal sample of people experiencing non-affective psychosis

BMC Psychiatry, 2021

Background Suicidal ideation is a key precursor for suicide attempts and suicide deaths. Performing routine screening of suicide precursors can help identify people who are at high risk of death by suicide. This is, arguably, an important suicide prevention effort. The aim of this study was to assess the validity, reliability, and factor structure of the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS) in a three-month longitudinal study with people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or non-affective psychosis and experiences of suicidal ideation and/or behaviours. It was predicted that the SIDAS would have high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent, discriminant and construct validity. Methods Ninety-nine participants experiencing psychosis completed the SIDAS at baseline and 89 participants completed it 3 months later. Additionally, participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Defeat and ...

Assessment of hopelessness in suicidal patients

Clinical Psychology Review, 1995

proposed that hopelessness is a common feature of depression and an important element in its etiology. The development of the Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lest~ & Trexle~, 1974) sparked substantial research into the phenomenon of hopelessness, as well as some controversy. Current interest in the construct and its measurement centers around its potential value in assessing risk for suicidal behavim; since several studies have demonstrated that many suicidal individuals have cognitive and emotional attributes of hopelessness. This paper explores developments in the assessment of hopelessness, and reviews the relevant research supporting its utility in the assessment of suicide risk. Empirical findings and controversies are summarized. Recommendations are made for instrument development, along with further study of state~trait characteristics of hopelessness and the utility of hopelessness as a predictor of suicidal behavior.

Life satisfaction and suicidal attempts among persons with schizophrenia

Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2003

The relationship between subjective quality of life (QOL) and suicide attempts in patients with schizophrenia has been understudied. The current study tested the hypothesis that QOL is negatively associated with a history of suicidality of patients with schizophrenia. QOL, as measured by the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), was investigated in 227 inpatients with DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia with and without a lifetime history of suicide attempts. The statistical analysis included analysis of variance (ANOVA), t tests, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The patients who had attempted suicide multiple times were less satisfied with regard to a larger number of life domains than the nonattempters and the single attempters. The differences in QOL remained significant after adjusting for psychiatric history and current psychopathology variables, e.g., age of onset of the disorder, number and length of hospitalizations, and positive, negative, and depressive symptoms. Dissatisfaction with QOL in general and with reference to four specific domains was associated with repeated suicide attempts. Clinicians should include QOL in the evaluation of patients with schizophrenia that are suspected to be suicidal.

Design and psychometric analysis of the hopelessness and suicide ideation inventory “IDIS”

International Journal of Psychological Research, 2016

The objective was to design the Hopeless and Suicide Ideation Inventory, also know as IDIS - Spanish acronym for Inventario de Desesperanza e Ideación Suicida - and to analyze its psychometric properties. A quantitative empirical research was conducted employing a non-experimental design, an instrumental variable and cross-sectional analysis. Three hundred and thirty-nine people participated in the study (67.6% females, 31.6% males), in which 54.6% were students and 34.8% were employees. Participants completed the IDIS, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), the Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation Inventory, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. The results indicated an inter-rater reliability and a positive convergent validity in both scales. Suicidal ideation revealed an internal consistency of α = .76, and α = .81 for hopelessness; a total variance of 41.77% and 47.52% was obtained correspondingly. Based on the Item Response Theory (IRT), the adjustments for INFIT and OUTFIT fell ...

Clinical and psychological correlates of two domains of hopelessness in schizophrenia

The Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 2008

Hopelessness is a widely observed barrier to recovery from schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Yet little is known about how clinical, social, and psychological factors independently affect hope. Additionally, the relationships that exist between these factors and different kinds of hope are unclear. To explore both issues, we correlated two aspects of hope, expectations of the future and agency, with stigma, clinical symptoms, anxiety, and coping preferences in 143 persons with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Multiple regressions revealed that hope for the future was predicted by lesser alienation, lesser preference for ignoring stressors, and lesser emotional discomfort and negative symptoms, accounting for 43% of the variance. A greater sense of agency was linked to lesser endorsement of mental illness stereotypes, fewer negative symptoms, lesser social phobia, and lesser preference for ignoring stressors, accounting for 44% of the variance. Implications for research and interventions are discussed.

Quick assessment of hopelessness: a cross-sectional study

Health and quality of life outcomes, 2006

Lengthy questionnaires reduce data quality and impose a burden on respondents. Previous researchers proposed that a single item ("My future seems dark to me") and a 4-item component of the Beck's Hopelessness Scale (BHS) can summarise most of the information the BHS provides. There is no clear indication of what BHS cutoff values are useful in identifying people with suicide tendency. In a population-based study of Chinese people aged between 15 and 59 in Hong Kong, the Chinese version of the BHS and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies--Depression scale were administered by trained interviewers and suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts were self-reported. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis and regression analysis were used to compare the performance of the BHS and its components in identifying people with suicidality and depression. Smoothed level of suicidal tendency was assessed in relation to scores on the BHS and its component to identify threshol...

Completed suicide in schizophrenia: Evidence from a case-control study

Psychiatry Research, 2009

Suicide is the single major cause of death among patients with schizophrenia. Despite great efforts in the prevention of such deaths, suicide rates have remained alarming, pointing to the need for a better understanding of the phenomenon. The present sample comprised 20 male patients with schizophrenia who committed suicide and who were investigated retrospectively for a large number of characteristics. Controls were 20 living patients with schizophrenia. The results suggest that suicide attempts, hopelessness and self-devaluation were the three variables most strongly associated with completed suicide. However, a number of variables were identified which may constitute risk factors, some of which have not been identified in the past: agitation and motor restlessness (OR = 3.66; 95%CI = 0.95/14.02), self-devaluation (OR = 28.49; 95%CI = 3.15/257.40), hopelessness (OR = 51.00; 95% CI = 7.56-343.72), insomnia (OR = 12.66; 95%CI = 0.95/14.02), mental disintegration (OR = 3.66; 95%CI = 0.95/14.02), and suicide attempt (OR = 3.66; 95%CI = 1.40/114.41). Poor adherence to medications was also predictive of completed suicide in our sample of schizophrenia patients, primarily because the suicide victims showed very low adherence.

Persistent suicide risk in clinically improved schizophrenia patients: challenge of the suicidal dimension

Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2010

Background: Suicide is a major problem in schizophrenia, estimated to affect 9%-13% of patients. About 25% of schizophrenic patients make at least one suicide attempt in their lifetime. Current outcome measures do not address this problem, even though it affects quality of life and patient safety. The aim of this study was to assess suicidality in long-term clinically improved schizophrenia patients who were treated in a nongovernmental psychiatric treatment centre in Mumbai, India. Method: Participants were 61 patients out of 200 consecutive hospitalized first-episode patients with schizophrenia diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders who were much improved on the Clinical Global Impression Scale-Improvement (CGI-I) scale at the endpoint of a 10-year follow-up. Clinical assessment tools included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia, CGI-I, Global Assessment of Functioning, and suicidality. Results: Many of the patients, although clinically improved, experienced emerging suicidality during the 10-year follow-up period. All of the patients reported significant suicidality (ie, suicide attempts, suicidal crises, or suicidal ideation) at the end of the study, whereas only 83% had reported previous significant suicidality at baseline. No sociodemographic and clinical variables at baseline were predictive of suicidal status at the end of the 10-year follow-up. Conclusion: Schizophrenia is a complex neurobehavioral disorder that appears to be closely associated with suicidal behavior. Adequate assessment and management of suicidality needs to be a continual process, even in patients who respond well to treatment.