A Preliminary Validation Study of Two Ultra-Brief Measures of Suicide Risk: The Suicide and Perceived Burdensomeness Visual Analog Scales.

The advent of rapid-acting suicide-focused interventions and longitudinal research designs employing high-frequency, repeated measurement of suicide risk has resulted in a need to quantify suicide risk during very brief windows of time (e.g., minutes, hours, days). This has rapidly outpaced traditional methods for assessing suicide risk, which often focus on measuring indicators of suicide risk during much broader intervals of time (e.g., weeks to months). Valid and practical methods for rapidly assessing suicide risk during small time intervals are therefore needed. This study reports a preliminary examination of the Suicide Visual Analog Scale (S-VAS) and the Perceived Burdensomeness Visual Analog Scale (PB-VAS) in a clinical sample of suicidal adults. Results support the convergent validity, predictive validity, responsiveness, and clinical utility of both scales, suggesting the S-VAS and PB-VAS are valid methods for rapidly quantifying two dimensions of suicide risk.