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Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the psychometric properties of the Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale (GSIS) among community-residing older adults.
Method: We recruited 173 voluntary participants, 65 years and older, into a 2+ year longitudinal study of the onset or exacerbation of depressive symptoms and suicide ideation. We assessed the internal consistency of the GSIS and its four component subscales, and its shorter and longer duration test–retest reliability, convergent (depression, social hopelessness, and loneliness), divergent (psychological well-being, life satisfaction, perceived social support, and self-rated health), discriminant (basic and instrumental activities of daily living and social desirability), criterion (history of suicide behavior), and predictive validity (future suicide ideation).
Results: The GSIS demonstrated strong test–retest reliability and internal consistency. Baseline GSIS scores were significantly positively associated with suicide risk factors, negatively associated with potential resiliency factors, and not associated with functional impairment or social desirability. GSIS scores significantly differentiated between participants with as compared to those without a history of suicide behavior. Baseline GSIS scores significantly predicted suicide ideation at a 2+ year follow-up assessment.
Conclusion: Findings suggest strong measurement characteristics for the GSIS with community-residing older adults, including impressive consistency over time. These results are consistent with research attesting to the empirical and pragmatic strengths of this measure. These findings have implications for the monitoring of suicide risk when aiming to enhance mental health and well-being and prevent suicide in later life.
Acknowledgements
Work on this study was funded in part by an operating grant from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (Drs Heisel and Flett), and Internal Research Funding from the Lawson Health Research Institute and the Sam Katz Foundation (Drs Heisel and Flett), by research seed funding from Western University's Department of Psychiatry (Drs Heisel and Flett), and by a New Investigator Award of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Dr Heisel), an Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award (Dr Heisel), and by a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (Professor Flett).We greatly appreciate the assistance and contributions of our colleagues, collaborators, trainees, and research assistants on this project: Laura Allen, Gina Bhullar, Jordan Bowman, Joyce Cheng, Paulina Dysko, Luke Fera, Orsolya Gyorgy, Lisa Herberman, Gillian Hurwitz, Andrew McClure, Dorian Murariu, Dr Eva Neufeld, Megan Nichols, Sarah O'Flanagan, Dr Bonnie Purcell, Kristin Ramdeen, Kristen Sanders, Scott Squires, Simon Tavasoli, and Andrew Warner. Sincere thanks to all of our study participants.
Disclosure statement
We have no financial conflicts of interest; however, we are the developers of the GSIS (the scale being evaluated in this article), and so some might argue that there we would inherently want to present our scale in a positive light.