- Utilized to determine the participant’s stress level and suicidal intent before and after the research interview and suicide risk
- Guides the assessor to appropriate responses for different levels of suicide risk

Saint Louis University

- Scale for Suicide Ideation-Current
- Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Count 
- Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV Axis II Border-line Personality Disorder
- University of Washington Risk Assessment Protocol


Measures Utilized 

Risk assessment is a clinical interview administered by a professional to service users in order to inform them of adverse outcomes from their behaviors and to create a safety plan to minimize further risk. Historically, service users have had little decision-making power or voice in the plans made.

Risk Assessment of Self-Harm

Fruhbauerova, M., DeCou, C. R., Crow, B. E., & Comtois, K. A. (2021). Borderline personality disorder and self-directed violence in a sample of suicidal army soldiers. Psychological Services, 18(1), 104–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000369

Borderline Personality Disorder and Self-Directed Violence in a Sample of Suicidal Army Soldiers 

- An interviewer-administered scale which measures a patient’s suicidal ideation at its worst point in the past 2 weeks
- Was used at the study’s screening to determine level of suicidal ideation criterion for inclusion in the study and as a baseline assessment


Scale for Suicide Ideation-Current

- A brief interview covering past self-inflicted injuries and categorizes them into suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury. 
- Creates counts of self-inflicted injuries by method, medical risk severity, and lethality. 
- Has a Lifetime form and a Recent form which covers a specific assessment period 
- At the baseline of this study, the Lifetime and Recent version (for past year) were conducted 


Suicide Attempt Self-Injury Count 

- Used to identify patients with BPD given the suicide risk associated with this disorder
- The presence-absence of BPD diagnosis, and the number of symptoms were derived from the SCID and included in this study


Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV Axis II Border-line Personality Disorder

- Practitioners can move away from pathologization and instead provide strategies like risk minimization that tolerate a less damaging level of risk
- Focusing on improving relationships with service users is critical to risk-management adherence
- Creating an environment that allows service users to express their complex emotions and to be more involved in the safety plans created

How Practitioners Can Improve Risk-Reduction Strategies for Self-Harm

The DSHI lists various NSSI behaviors (ex. cutting, burning, carving in skin, scratching, biting, acid or cleaner burns, sticking sharp objects, banging head, and punching walls or objects) and has the participant rate if they have engaged in the behavior and the frequency in the past year, was used as part of the CANDI interview.

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