[Validity of the suicidality assessment instrument PRISM-S (Pictoral Representation of Illness Self Measure - Suicidality)].

In routine clinical practice the assessment of suicidality proves to be difficult and complex. The aim of the present study was to examine if PRISM can be used to measure validly the person's subjectively perceived suicidality. The nonverbal visualization technique PRISM (Pictoral Representation of Illness and Self Measure) has been developed by Büchi et al. (2002) to evaluate the perceived burden of suffering due to physical illness. The adapted version of PRISM used in our study is called PRISM-S (Pictoral Representation of Illness and Self Measure - Suicidality). 156 eligible inpatients, admitted voluntarily to the crisis intervention centre Winterthur, participated in the study. We used as gold standards the well established assessment tools the Beck Scale of Suicide Ideation (BSS) and the Depressive Symptome Inventory - Subscale (DSI-SS). The results showed high correlations between PRISM-S and the BSS (r = - 0,73) and the DSI-SS scores (r = - 0,76). Clinicians, general practitioners, psychiatrists and psychologists receive with PRISM-S a valid suicidality assessment tool that is very brief and easy to administer in clinical settings.