Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Mar;14(1):20-27.
doi: 10.1016/j.cpem.2013.01.001.

Asking Youth Questions About Suicide Risk in the Pediatric Emergency Department: Results From a Qualitative Analysis of Patient Opinions

Elizabeth D Ballard  1 , Ian H Stanley, Lisa M Horowitz, Maryland Pao, Elizabeth A Cannon, Jeffrey A Bridge
Affiliations

Asking Youth Questions About Suicide Risk in the Pediatric Emergency Department: Results From a Qualitative Analysis of Patient Opinions

Elizabeth D Ballard et al. Clin Pediatr Emerg Med. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

The emergency department (ED) is a promising setting to screen youth for suicide risk. Patient reactions to questions about suicidal thoughts and behaviors during their ED visit have implications for how screening is introduced, developed, and implemented. The current study is a qualitative investigation into patient opinions about screening for suicide risk in the pediatric ED. As part of a subset of a multisite study, 165 participants, 10 to 21 years old, were included in this sub-analysis. Ninety percent (148/165) of participants supported suicide risk screening. Reasons youth support screening included prevention of suicide, detection of at-risk youth, and a lack of other social support. Overall, pediatric patients agreed with suicide risk screening in the ED, citing similar reasons as in a previous investigation, further demonstrating acceptability of suicide risk screening in this setting. A small subset of youth (10%; 17/165) did not support screening for reasons that included a desire to focus on their chief (i.e., nonpsychiatric) presenting concern and fear of iatrogenic risk. Understanding patient opinions, including those in support of and in opposition to screening, can inform implementation practices. Further education about the importance of suicide risk assessment may be a helpful first step in instituting universal screening efforts.

Keywords: children; emergency department; patient opinion; screening; suicide; youth.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. King CA, O’Mara RM, Hayward CN, et al. Adolescent suicide risk screening in the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med. 2009;16:1234–1241. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wintersteen MB, Diamond GS, Fein JA. Screening for suicide risk in the pediatric emergency and acute care setting. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2007;19:398–404. - PubMed
    1. Horowitz LM, Bridge JA, Teach SJ, et al. Ask suicide-screening questions (ASQ): a brief instrument for the pediatric emergency department. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based injury statistics query and reporting system (WISQARS) [Accessed 11-4-2012]; Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2011. [Accessed 11-4-2012]; Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6104.pdf.